Здобуток. Accessory

Item. Tool.

Cost: 3. XP: 3.

Вартовий

Uses (4 supplies).

Supplies on Cleaning Kit may be spent as if they were supplies or ammo on assets you control.

When a supply is spent from Cleaning Kit, exhaust it: The performing investigator gets +2 skill value for this test.

Pixoloid Studios
The Feast of Hemlock Vale Investigator Expansion #33.
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FAQs

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Reviews

I would say the level 0 Cleaning Kit is one of the best cards of Hemlock Vale, sitting in the relatively uncontested Accessory Slot and adding huge value to anything with slightly scarce ammo (Lightning Gun, Shotgun, Old Shotgun and especially the Ornate Bow) and also to other off-class cards which use supplies (Fingerprint Kit, Chainsaw, Strange Solution, Thieves' Kit). So, does the upgraded version perform quite so well? For me, not quite.

At one extra supply, the Cleaning Kit (3) won't go much further than it's level 0 counterpart - and usually decks built around Cleaning Kit in general will have other means to make supplies go farther, such as Emergency Cache ••• and occasionally Contraband. The main aspect of this therefore is the utility of the +2 boost, which is one per turn given it exhausts the Cleaning Kit.

For over-succeed gun builds making use of a shotgun (Old or otherwise), most will use Custom Modifications. In these cases, the Extended Stock upgrade achieves the same effect as a persistent boost and for just 2 XP rather than the 6 XP you would use on two copies of Cleaning Kit (3). What's more, Custom Modifications is also a candidate for the perennial Guardian-enabler Stick to the Plan, making it dramatically more reliable. Even discounting Custom Modifications, cards like Enchant Weapon will usually provide a bigger one off boost. The only niche it becomes useful is on Guardians who can't take high level Guardian cards (and so can't access a fully tricked out Custom Modifications or wouldn't be keen on guns anyway - Parallel Roland Banks for the former with an Old Shotgun and Wilson Richards for the latter). Even then, 6 XP is a lot to spend when the base Cleaning Kit is a level 0.

On the side of generically providing a boost, I'd say other cards often do this better. Girish Kadakia provides fat soak with an unlimited +2 per turn boost, and costs just 1 more XP than the upgraded Kit (and you can still keep the level 0 Kit for its supply utility alongside). Likewise, Well Prepared can provide stronger boosts if used well. Even the humble Reliable accesses a persistent +1 for the asset you want to be using at much less XP. While Girish and/or Well Prepared are extra assets you need to get into play, Guardians love Ever Vigilant on Stick to the Plan - so additional assets typically do not have the same opportunity cost usually that they do for other classes.

EDIT: People say this is a false equivalence because of the cost to source the card and get it into play and the resource cost (which I thought was too obvious to mention). It's a cost I would take personally as the boosts on the other cards are more flexible, just flagging the discussion below.

Overall, I'd say there's vanishingly few reasons to use the upgraded Cleaning Kit over its level 0 counterpart - there's just better ways to get boosts and most of them cost less XP as well. What would have made this better would have been adding more icons to the card (e.g. having it as ) so it too could have been a target of Well Prepared, but even then I'd still say it doesn't offer enough for its price.

HungryColquhoun · 7312
As a Tool, Kymani can take it. — MrGoldbee · 1443
True, but I still don't see any particular utility so didn't think it was worth mentioning. I guess you could run both Thieves' Kit (3) and Cleaning Kit (3) to over-succeed on Thieves' Kit and get more resources - but it feels like a waste of time when you can just pair level 0 Thieves' Kit with usual Rogue resource economy events. — HungryColquhoun · 7312
This review in comparing other stat boosting cards seems to entirely gloss over the fact that adding an extra card to your combo is in and of itself a cost. In comparing to well prepared for example I would be all too happy to pay one exp to staple my well prepared to another card I'm already paying for and using. — Spamamdorf · 4
It's not covered in my review because I don't infantilise the people reading it and I assume people will know basics such as opportunity cost and be able to make their own decisions. If you want a review that states the basics so clearly every time then write your own review, personally I think it's unnecessary. However, to spend some time addressing this, particularly for guns where this should see use if it were good then as mentioned Custom Modifications and Stick to the Plan are more or less an assumed cost of an effective firearms deck. So, all things being equal, Cleaning Kit (3) then becomes the unnecessary extra cost to the gold standard engine for guns. Using Cleaning Kit 0 will generally come with a support cost as mentioned to work well (Emergency Cache [3], Contraband, etc.), so if you're looking for a lean uncomplicated deck then likely Cleaning Kit isn't the card for you. I mean honestly Unexpected Courage with the level 0 Cleaning Kit provides half of the benefit here - of course there's a cost getting an Unexpected Courage in your hand when you want it there, but I wouldn't say the opportunity cost break offered by Cleaning Kit (3) is anywhere near worth the XP needed for the upgrade. — HungryColquhoun · 7312
I take the general point of this review, but I disagree with a lot of the analysis. There will almost always be more expensive cards in other slots that provide bigger value, so pointing to Girish (a 4xp ally) and claiming that invalidates the use of 3xp accessory is a false equivalence. What if my ally slot is already filled? The other suggested alternatives (Custom Modifications, Well Prepared, Enchant Weapon, Contraband, and Emergency Cache 3) also come with downsides, if nothing else that they require additional deck space as well as costing xp of their own. Deck space is so tight these days, is it really worth it to run support cards for my support cards when I could have all the bonuses on one copy of Cleaning Kit 3? I agree that many decks will find the level 0 Cleaning Kit sufficient, but I think the level 3 version provides more value than this review indicates. — Pseudo Nymh · 54
@HungryColquhoun "Not infantalizing" looks a lot like "having no idea what you're talking about" when you make direct comparisons and state that it is "cheaper" to buy a well prepared than to upgrade your cleaning kit however. Because that's just flat out false. It is in no way cheaper to run multiple stat boosting cards alongside your ammo reloading cards when you could get a card that does both at the same time. No one says "I dont run Pete Sylvester (2) because I could just run track shoes and Earthly Serenity for cheaper" that's crazy talk and has nothing to do with opportunity costs. — Spamamdorf · 4
Spamamdorf, looks like you do an awful lot of reviewing other people's reviews rather than properly contributing to the community and writing them yourself. Why don't you do that if I have no idea what I'm talking about? XP wise, it is cheaper - it's clear what I'm talking about from the context of the review. And the Peter Sylvester comparison is baseless and you know it - he has infinite healing and a boost as a level 0 card. The comparison here is more like people running base Sylvester over the upgrade, which plenty of people do. You're leaving a lot of these comments on my reviews TBH, so much so that I think you're seeking them out. As mentioned, write your own stuff and actually properly contribute if you feel like the current standard here is not up to scratch. — HungryColquhoun · 7312
Psuedo Nymh as mentioned the +2 boost is a one per turn, so I think it is appropriate to draw comparisons to Extended Stock on Custom Modifications where it's not for a major category of assets people would use this on (Firearms) when 95% of people will take Custom Modifications. — HungryColquhoun · 7312
Edit added in anyway, you can all calm down now. — HungryColquhoun · 7312
Adding discussion to reviews is adding to the community. I mostly just comment on reviews that miss things in their arguments, if those happen to be you more often than not... — Spamamdorf · 4
Telling someone they don't have a clue what they're talking about is not discussion, it's flat out rude and definitely detracts from a community. I'm open to discussion, I'm not open to people giving the community a bad name and lowering the tone. If you want to discuss things, then discuss, but don't take jabs at people while doing so - it's not hard to do. — HungryColquhoun · 7312
As a last point your criticism on my Katana review is entirely contrary to your criticism here. There you said I was "overselling the problem of getting 3 damage in one action once a turn", even though this almost definitely requires extra cards to support which have an opportunity cost (e.g. Steady Handed) and that was the point of my review, which seeing as you're supporting that point here then by your own words would mean you have "no clue what you're talking about" over there, no? Good job nothing can be deleted on here, isn't it? — HungryColquhoun · 7312
Get a room. — MrGoldbee · 1443
Lol — HungryColquhoun · 7312