Add chooseable difficulty level
Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2015 9:09 am
The whole "starting area" thing is grossly insufficient, in terms of tuning the challenge level of the game. Even more so with multiplayer, since it's my expectation that 2 players cooperating can achieve a lot more faster than a single player, making the game a lot easier. If nothing else then by virtue of being able to be 2 places at once.
Therefore, the game needs to have a choice of difficulty level, perhaps 7 in total:
Very Easy
Easy
Slightly Easy
Normal
Slightly Hard
Hard
Very Hard
Normal is as now.
Slightly Easy gives the mobs 5% fewer HP, makes them do 5% less damage, makes them spawn 5% more slowly, and gives the player character 5% more HP and 5% more HP regeneration. Also the thresholds for when the mobs begin to react to Pollution are raised by 5%.
Easy is the same, except 10%.
Very Easy 20%.
Slightly Hard is as Slightly Easy, but reversed signs. Same with Hard and Very Hard. I realize that in some cases, a 5% difference may round to nothing, e.g. the HP of weak mobs, and even more so the damage done by mobs. I'd be OK with that.
It's a simple and efficient way to enable players to tune the difficulty of the game.
For a more elaborate implementation, the Pollution Threshold values should be modified by 15%/30%/60% instead of 5%/10%/20%, i.e. triple the percentages, and at Easy the player character starts knowing a couple of the basic inventions: Automation and Armor Crafting. At Very Easy he gets those 2 plus Logistics and Turrets and Military (the equivalent of about 60 red science packs - on Very Easy).
Therefore, the game needs to have a choice of difficulty level, perhaps 7 in total:
Very Easy
Easy
Slightly Easy
Normal
Slightly Hard
Hard
Very Hard
Normal is as now.
Slightly Easy gives the mobs 5% fewer HP, makes them do 5% less damage, makes them spawn 5% more slowly, and gives the player character 5% more HP and 5% more HP regeneration. Also the thresholds for when the mobs begin to react to Pollution are raised by 5%.
Easy is the same, except 10%.
Very Easy 20%.
Slightly Hard is as Slightly Easy, but reversed signs. Same with Hard and Very Hard. I realize that in some cases, a 5% difference may round to nothing, e.g. the HP of weak mobs, and even more so the damage done by mobs. I'd be OK with that.
It's a simple and efficient way to enable players to tune the difficulty of the game.
For a more elaborate implementation, the Pollution Threshold values should be modified by 15%/30%/60% instead of 5%/10%/20%, i.e. triple the percentages, and at Easy the player character starts knowing a couple of the basic inventions: Automation and Armor Crafting. At Very Easy he gets those 2 plus Logistics and Turrets and Military (the equivalent of about 60 red science packs - on Very Easy).