Mauve Manticore Discussion Thread

Mauve Manticore 1 map 1 is also much more difficult now. Without encumber to immobilize the hulk you need to have a push effect and pray he only has 1 move card or an Impenetrable Nimbus to buy a turn. It's not as bad since you can keep restarting to get the perfect set of cards but it isn't pleasant.

 

Hi! I played Card Hunter beta some time last year. Did only play the beginning of the campaign. 1-2 weeks ago I started again from the beginning and played a bit more this time. I also tried the Mauve Manticore scenarios and immediately noticed that they are a lot harder than the usual campaign stuff.

It often seems a lot more luck based because you can't react to the enemy and build a deck to make your own strategy. You need the cards the units come with and you often draw bad stuff and don't need some of the cards.

First problem I had at Mauve Manticore 4(seems to start with 4 and then unlock the older stuff) was with the mission in the forest where you'd need a lot of attack cards to finish of some of the enemies fast(so they can't burn you a lot). Means you need to start with attack cards(which sometimes does not happen if you draw a lot of movement cards) and then later draw attack cards.

Prison escape thing also was a bit hard. 2nd thing was okay.

Mauve Manticore 3 was a lot easier.

I'm at Mauve Manticore 2 now and there is the hardest scenario I have ever seen: Wedding Crashers. Definitely needs to be balanced a bit more. Enemis have a lot more health and heal up and you can't even kill the priest. You need to use ranged attacks or they'll kill you(can't go near them with their buffed strong attacks that can take you out in 1 hit if they have all-out-attack stuff). But they always outheal. Pretty hard. Also the bash stuff makes them slide back so they can heal while you need to move again next to them to use another attack. Already tried it 10+ times now. Seems nearly impossible.

There should be more attacsk that have 2 range or step attacks instead of bash. Would make it easier.

 

Welcome back to CH!

Here's a few things to keep in mind - because MM has fixed deck you often have to change you play style to make it work since you can't tailor the cards to how you like to play. For Wedding Crashers specifically, here's what I've found to work with a fair amount of success: Don't be aggressive! The bashes are your friends, no need to chase the enemies down, they'll come to you. Kill their priest first, this is a must. Target all ranged attacks on her and as much as you can everything else as well. Then keep your basher up front and every time they move next to him, bash them away. With their priest dead you'll slowly kill them one bash at a time. If you have extra attacks at the end of the round don't move next to them and give them a swing at you, save the attacks for when they move next to you the following round. Basically always keep them at distance and if you don't have a bash when they move next to you, move away to bash another day!

 

Thanks for the info but I already managed to beat it(often happens that I make some post somewhere to complain and then shortly after that I manage to solve the problem).

I tried it again and had better luck. A bit more armor(armor 2 rating permanent without rolling) on one of my guys and the wizard had a bit more ranged stuff and teleport. I managed to kill the priest and then it was easier to kite the others.

Main problem was that you had to be careful with the own units. Placing them close to each other made it easier for the enemy to hit them(if 2 next to each other only 1 can move away or you use bash but sometimes they block). But if you placed them to far away it was harder to attack fast enough ... the few more ranged spells at the witzard helped(also it seems he got less lucky with his 8 heal and healing attacks at the priest). Really hard to get got enough draws ...

After that I did not have any problems with the other 2 scenarios(lot of heavy hitting terrain attachements and teleports to move the enemy there at those scenarios). Now at the Supplement 2 which also seems to be easy(arena-like scenarios). Everything beaten at 1st try so far.

 

Just had to say that MM#4 might be my favorite one so far. All three battles are right up there with the ones that I keep coming back to (Forgotten Chapel, Wedding Crashers, The Games). I've been mostly messing around with wizards lately, so a return to deceptively simple melee battles is a nice change of pace—"deceptively" because careful positioning is so important in all of these.

The first and third battles do seem a bit prone to situations where there's no way to win because one of my trees just can't run away from that golem fast enough, or because one zombie mob (usually the first) manages to box me in. Still, at least in those cases I'm pretty sure there isn't much I could have done about it, and the replay usually pays off. Meanwhile, Chess Conundrum features a pretty cool matchup of powerful cards. Nicely done.

 

The second map is beatable (I just did it, without revives), but it is now much harder than intended.

As the original creator, I suggest just increasing Gary's VP goal to 4 so he doesn't win from just 1 round on VS and 2 kills.

 

We're looking at this one.

 

Reg'd just to say that Mauve Manticore 3/3 Xanthicus is definitely not fun. It just isn't balanced well, and there are no options to apply a strategy other than "rush and pray for several draws of top tier cards". A single party member dead leaves no hope for VP, it sounds like the VP balance is broken at themoment with Xanth taking 4, so holding VP isn't an option, and even with great heal draws rockfall comes up way too much to normalize it.

The slide/move and attack cards are undone by damage squares and the constriction of the map. They are also mitigated by the spears the enemy has. There is no advantage given to them. Many of the AOE cards the mage has will damage party as well (assuming you're using the rush and bundle approach which is sounds like it the current workaround to lack of balance), and since the different duration damages stack, he'll be toast anyhow in a turn or two.

This isn't a "you're just not working the angle" like failing use stick-and-move with the dogs or failing to constantly move foward in the zombie run... it's just a funneled unfun beating. =(

Looking forward to dropping some more $$$ on cardhunter down the road. Thanks for listening!

 

So, when I originally made that map, Xanthicus just sits on one VP, despite all of the squares he occupies being marked as such. Holding the VPs is totally viable, just not easy. I'm not sure where you're rushing towards, but in my experience you need to hurry up towards the top, getting out of the range of Xanth's breath attacks, and begin wailing on the guys up there. While your warrior and priest focus on them, you mage can pick off stragglers that make their way towards the center.

You really have to use you hp as bait, drawing out attacks from your enemies with the people who can best take it. Whenever you draw a nimbus, see how much you can get your enemies to focus on just that character. If your wizard gets Teleport, never let it go. It's easily the hardest map I've ever made, and you really need to be at the top of your game to beat it. I win about 2 out of every 3 games on that map, so believe me, I know it's possible to get screwed over... but it's also possible to beat, even with the seemingly limited resources and restricted movement of the stage. I'm sorry that it's placement as the final stage means that loss comes at such a high cost, but think of it like one of those optional bosses that appear after you've beaten the main campaign of an RPG - it's absolutely unfair, but that's kinda the point.

Edit: It does seem like you're on a strict timer now (all four of the squares under the dragon are VPs, which is too bad - it was a fun element of the original, that you could delay the clock), but the mission is totally beatable. The Fire Demon deals the most damage out of the enemies you have to face up top. Your priest makes a decent tank - they have Holy Armor, various Drain effects, and are otherwise the most decent of the three at soaking up raw damage. The mage, for me, nearly always ends up on the upper left VP. It's a good spot for her. Think carefully about maximizing damage from your attacks - try to overkill as little as possible. The Acid Demon is largely a decoy - it's good to kill them last, as they tend to hurt their allies as much as you. My normal targeting priority would be Fire Demon, Ice Demons, Acid Demon.

Best of luck!

 

Welcome to the forums! There's a wealth of friendly help and knowledge here. If Inkfingers response doesn't seem to do the trick, I'd suggest checking out this thread.

 

Huh, I've tended to make the Acid Demon my first priority, because he'll strip the armor and impede movement.

 

That's interesting that you intended Xanth to only occupy 1 victory square. I wonder if that looked like a mistake to Farbs (normal terrain that looked like victory terrain) when he put your board into the game.
@Farbs, @Jon - what would you think about us editing the board in accordance with Inkfingers' original design?

 

I have returned to Card Hunter after a long time away and just wanted to say that I thoroughly enjoyed MM#4 and MM#5. Great work by all the map-makers!

I'm finding MM Supplement #3 rock hard (possibly due to card rebalancing after it was made?), although I have now managed to make it to the final map. I love the idea behind it though.

 

Thanks for making Mauve Manticore #7 so playable! It's very nice indeed to finally have an issue that is not all gnashing of teeth, furrowing of brow and fondling of chess clock. This was the first one that was all smiles for me. Very much appreciated!

 

Hey, thanks for the kind words. I'm hoping to stay on this new ~1/month schedule, so if you or anyone you know wants to submit a good board for #8...

 

Agreed 100 %! There has been enjoyable adventures in the previous issues as well, but overall I think that MM #7 is by far my favourite, because all three adventures are fun and playable.

 

Personally, I can't even beat the first battle. Any tips?

 

Please see here: http://forums.cardhunter.com/threads/mauve-manticore-7.7558/

 

Hi! Semi-new to CH. Played for a while in Beta, only just back now.
I played and enjoyed MM#7, but MM#6 has me utterly stumped on the first map. I have tried a dozen times now, using cautious, aggro, divide and conquer, etc strategies and NOTHING WORKS. I maybe kill one weapon (usually the axe), before the staff just demolishes me. I try to close on the staff and focus it, but it just heals through until the other 1-2 come over and smash my face in. I'm at a complete loss wtf to do on this one. Any help would be appreciated.