They pretty much straight up fucked themselves over during the first round of turns by not repairing the Engineer's card draw. The game has tons of useful powers, but the Engineer drawing tons of cards and having all the wrenches and power he needs every single turn to keep absolutely everything in tip top shape at all times is absolutely priority #1. Without that extra draw for the Engineer and him not getting a second wrench until the third or fourth round as a result, it was a death sentence.