Rework Difficulty
complete
E
Eugen Naiman
I think the way different level of difficulties are implemented right now might need a bit of rework.
I see that higher difficulties give less soldiers at the start, then new recruits have less and less equipment. That is a good start but then the rest of the game has to be made more difficult, not only having the aliens more active and having a few extra enemies on the map.
Give enemies more damage, more armor, smarter behaviour. Reduce numbers of recruits available, reduce number of resources for trade, increase research/manufacture time .... and generally make the game much more challenging on higher difficulties.
If somebody choses a higher difficulty that means they need a challenge - give them a real one.
A
Andrey Valentinovich
at the moment, the problems with complexity remain, on the legend it is insufficient. and many missions where frankly boring to play because of the weakness of enemies. and I would not mark this post as completed
Vit Barta
complete
We did changes in difficulty system in Leviathan patch. Dynamic difficulty influence was significantly decreased. Game is easier now in general. Our numbers confirm this change as winrate of missions went up 10%. We made easy difficulty easier and very hard harder. We will continue working on difficulty but for the most parts it can be considered as complete.
V
Voland
Vit Barta: While there have been major improvements in this department, balance issues make it difficult to assess the real difficulty level of encounters, particularly using stats. The problem with difficulty in PP is that it is uneven, like a pool table with a tilt. If you know how to take advantage of the tilt, it is easy to win against any odds. If you don't, or unwilling to do so, the game can still be unreasonably hard.
A case in point is alpha striking. Alpha striking enables dealing with any number of enemies of practically any strength. It will show as a win in your stats, but dealing with the same encounter without alpha striking can be very difficult indeed.
The lack of balance is also coloring the feedback you are getting on many of the game mechanics. Many players are against changes to balance that would, e.g. remove OP combos because they fear that it will result in a net increase in difficulty.
Please, continue considering/revisiting the difficulty issue while the balance hasn't been sorted out. It would also help if you could make it clear that changes to balance will be accompanied by corresponding adjustments to difficulty. Just something we could point to when providing feedback to answer the claims that those of us who want changes to balance want to make the game more difficult for everybody.
T
Torinus
Vit Barta: As Voland said, while current version of the game does seem a bit more balanced it is not good overall. The gameplay is based around small maps where Pandoran enemies often spawn very near us and we either murder enough of them in one turn or they murder us. And then when all their Pandoran buddies join them from all around the map you need to start the chain panic or you die.
Also both Pure and Forsaken battles are easier than equal level Pandoran battles and will make these stats fake as a result.
Ryan R
Vit Barta: "Dynamic difficulty influence was significantly decreased. "
Any way we can get an option to manually adjust this value and values like these?
Also what exactly does "significantly decreased" mean?
Alexander Pochunski
I think, it's necessary to add button "Swith-Off saving in battle" in difficult options.
Christiaan Thamm
You seem to suggest this game is too easy, naah you must be crazy. Ive been trying so hard to love this game. I do, its great. But i just cant play it anymore. Ive restarted this 7 times now. At first it goes great, then all of a sudden i hit n brick wall. I just cant progress without losing half my army. The difficulty scaling is just off the charts wrong.
Marek Dvořák
For further playing I will wait for difficulty decrease. I dont want to save/load game several times during one turn not to loose all soldiers.
Alex Telfer
Wait there is an algorithm that makes the game harder each time you win without getting hurt much or losing a solider? So your punished for doing good? That seems irrational on basic difficulty settings. I am putting down the game because my constant tech and raiding other raven's can't keep up with the enemies evolutions. My weapons just can't do damage enough to keep the number of enemies down.
Rogier van Vugt
Alex Telfer: There is a mod that changes this behavior:
This is what you want:
Cap Deploy Boost
Every time you do well in tactical mission, the game will boost the strength and number of enemies.
This mod caps the boost according to game difficulty:
- Rookie caps at 1.0x, meaning no boost (nerf is still possible when you do badly, same for below)
- Veteran caps at 1.5x, a moderate boost that good players would deem too easy.
- Hero caps at 2.5x, giving more room for tough enemies.
- Legend has no multiplier cap; the game still have a (pretty high) native cap on the multiplied strength.
(Note you need the 0.1 version of the injector to enable mods, see the link within the page)
Matty B
Signed up just to comment here. I've put the game down tonight because it just got ridiculous. I finished xcom (I don't finish many games) and PP is so much better than xcom but the difficulty is just punishing. Admittedly I'm casual about my gaming but I use it to relax, pp has become work.
I'm really glad to hear there are changes comimg!
Rogier van Vugt
Matty B: See the mod suggestion above as a temporary fix.
James W Prasch
Fantastic ! This is great news. Thank you Snapshot !
Kevin Hill
in progress
Overall difficulty is getting a rework in the patch alongside DLC 1. Firstly, the Dynamic Difficulty will be adjusted to be more forgiving on easier difficulty levels. We are also changing the way that mission outcomes are evaluated in favor of the player. This means that completing certain missions with fewer injuries is less likely to increase the difficulty.
Pandoran evolution will now also be tempered by the passage of time and not just player performance, meaning that Pandorans will take longer to get tougher!
Kevin Hill
Merged in a post:
Generally too hard
Diego Cerreti
Even at the easiest level, the game become "extreme" in every fight in a very small game time.
So you can't have more team of soldier to explore the map, becouse they will never be strong enough to fight, unless you let them make experience in the base, but the time doesn't pass without a strong cost in term of lost heavens and bases (that you can't conquer back).
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