Learning True Solo #10 Man With Six Hands (TCU Campaign)

One of the last topics I want to talk about is Stat Boosting.

Stat Boosting can be difficult to pull off in true-solo since it tends to take a lot of set-up time, which can cost full rounds in True Solo.

One of the ways around this is to make it up with action compression, another is to use stat boosts that are cost-efficient. This Deck does both.

Another problem is finding those cards, but searching in seeker is pretty easy... especially when you don't even have to draw the search card first thanks to Joe's Hunch Deck.

Minor Spoilers for TCU Campaign follow (very minor, just a few mechanics).

Mulligan

• Dig For: Backpack, 1911s, Allies
• Keep: Other Search Effects
• Pitch: Items, Astounding Revelation

All of the insight cards should go in the hunch deck.

General Playstyle

Investigating, with up to 7 (more with XP) Basic Investigates are enough, but use those hunches when they show up too.

Enemy Management, realistically? shoot them. You (probably) won't run out of ammo thanks to the new Cleaning Kit but consider basic fight actions for cleanup when you only need 1 damage.

The Man With Six Hands

Tinker is an insight card, combined with aggressive deck searching to find the Colt 1911s you can end up with 4 tools in play at once by the end of the scenario, giving potentially +2 across the board to your stats as well as +4 sanity (which is really helpful in TCU specifically).

This means no room for other guns, which is why Cleaning Kit is in the deck instead, but in the first scenario prioritize Tooth of Etzli for Whitton Greene's boost until you need the ammo.

To round out the stat boosting eventually upgrade into double stat allies like Michael Leigh who helps stretch your ammo and Gené Beauregard who helps push clues around to make earning victory points easier as well as easier stacking of the Hawk-Eye Folding Cameras

with XP, if you get the full rig out you'll be sitting at 4/8/7/5 for the "low"-cost of 17 resources (yikes) which is why we play Astounding Revelation, and Crack the Case. Take that, Union&Disillusion.

Setting up

Backpack will help find the items, so focus on using the other search effects like Eureka! or No Stone Unturned to find the Allies.

Prioritize the Hawk-Eye Folding Cameras early in the scenarios, but don't leave a hand slot open if you've got a tool to fill it with, Eventually you'll hit a Tinker and you'll want tool(s) in play to use it on.

In Early scenarios you can hold Cleaning Kit either under backpack or in hand to leave Tooth of Etzli in play. Upgrade out of it to run extra allies later.

Hunches

Because we can expect to have the Colt 1911s out for most of the scenario thanks to all the search power, use the fast hunches like Working a Hunch and Shortcut aggressively. When you do get to recycle hunches back in, prefer the fast ones.

Drop a clue for Unsolved Case, the -2 XP isn't worth it. Because of this it's usually a good idea to keep at least 2 resources on hand if you can to make sure you can afford it.

Upgrades / Side Deck

Prioritize Michael Leigh, Gené Beauregard, Charisma and Backpack (2). If you don't own RtTFA you have my permission to pay 4XP and write "My Backpacks Search 12" in the campaign log.

After that you've got some choices:

Need more Bullets? Emergency Cache (3) targeting the Cleaning Kit is one option, Extra Ammunition (1) is another.

Want Mythos Protection? Forewarned (1) (keep it in the main deck), or consider Ravenous Myconid - Sentient Strain since the deck relies on Basic Investigates anyway.

Worried about those Circle Tests or an enemy with a high evade score? Defensive Stance (1) and Survey the Area (1) will give 6+ icons.

Unearth the Ancients (2) is a combination of a resource discount and a cheeky way to investigate high-shroud locations for low shroud numbers. (up to 2 in fact lets you choose 0 assets and investigate vs. a 0) the upgrade even still gets you the clue.

Join the Caravan (1) is an upgrade option for the shortcuts later in the campaign, it'll be free if both of your upgraded allies are out and lets you basically teleport to any location you've visited before, which can be useful in backtracking heavy scenarios.

No Stone Unturned (5) can be a way to basically guarantee you find that last piece of your rig and trigger an Astounding Revelation, but there's no way to guarantee you find it in the hunch deck quickly, so this is more of a luxury upgrade.

Call for Backup is a nice bit of action compression late in the campaign, combining a move, 1 damage, and 1 clue.

Finally, Take the Initiative is an alternative to Well-Funded, just a matter of whether you want the action restriction or the asset restriction, but with potentially 5 tools in play at once... well, I tried both and couldn't decide which I preferred.

Variations

Instead of Cleaning Kits we could rely on Extra Ammunition, keep the Tooth of Etzli and upgrade to Whitton Greene (2) instead of one of the more expensive allies, trading a point of or for a point of .

Crowbar could be a cheeky piece of tech, consider dropping all the boosts and run allies like the new Beat Cop (2) for additional . This will also help preserve the ammunition, which might leave room for a different accessory like Eon Chart (4).

In a different Campaign where you aren't trying to pass a 20 difficulty test, other tools would be an option, like Pocket Telescope

Remarks

I mentioned a "big-rig shaper" way back in the first deck guide of this series, and so it felt appropriate to book-end the series with that deck.

I'm kind of out of topics... I'll keep doing solo decks but I'll probably start a different series to do them. (Well, name them differently, anyway). I'll probably continue to do a selection of characters from each remaining campaign too (although not looking forward to addressing Hemlock Vale!)