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Offline BTAxis

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Design: Difficulty
« on: April 12, 2006, 11:39:00 am »
What we're eventually going to need is a difficulty setting. What should this setting influence? And how much?

I imagine five difficulty settings:
* Very Easy
* Easy
* Normal
* Hard
* Really Quite Hard
Possibly, these setting names could be changed to something less bland.

What could the difficulty setting influence? I can think of the following:
- Alien stats
- Alien numbers on the batlefield
- Alien aggressiveness (number of UFOs, alien bases and their increase)
- Research times
- Construction/purchase costs
- Funding
- Decline of mission score per civilian casualty

If anyone has more ideas, please post them in this thread.

On a related issue, there is the difficulty of battles. I believe even battles in later stages of the game should still be winnable for fresh recruits. One way to accomplish this is to make fresh recruits get a stats bonus in later stages of the game, but I don't like that. Rather, I'd have "easy" missions occur even later on, sp you can have rookies gain experience from those. I imagine a mission difficulty index, ranging from, say, 1 to 5 on the easiest difficulty and from 5 to 10 on the hardest. Missions early on in the game would be difficulty 1, and later on harder missions would appear - but the difficulty 1 missions should not disappear.
Comments?

inquisiteur2

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Design: Difficulty
« Reply #1 on: April 12, 2006, 07:51:14 pm »
I agree with the above.

There is only one thing that irritates me, maybe it depends on the difficulty settings (i am currently playing on the level "hard") :

When one of your soldiers approach an alien; Even if the alien didn't see him, he will be automatically aware of his presence, and therefore there isn't any possibility to make surprise attacks, and to approach an alien without getting shot the next turn.

Offline BTAxis

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Design: Difficulty
« Reply #2 on: April 12, 2006, 09:30:42 pm »
Currently, difficulty does pretty much nothing, though. At least, I think.

Offline Level

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Design: Difficulty
« Reply #3 on: April 13, 2006, 10:38:52 am »
You could use the same ranks used for the soldiers:
Civilian
Rooky
Squady
Sargent
Captain
Commander
and others that I missed.

The difficulty levels seemed to work for me, I couldn't beat some of the levels on hard but won easily on chickenhearted, but I could be wrong.

Another thing that was changeable in the campaign.hard file (in the Christmas special at least) was the number of recruits, actually you could change anything in the campaign.ufo file.

Unlike it is now I think it should be per game and not global (same with player name).

Offline XCOMTurcocalypse

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Re: Design: Difficulty
« Reply #4 on: April 30, 2006, 08:01:14 pm »
Quote
- Research times
- Construction/purchase costs
- Funding


I disagree here.Making these three stats harder ALTOGETHER with Alien stats puts a bad strain on gameplay.

I suppose only Alien stats should be changed in difficulty levels.Thus it could free time from developers having to code X-Com abilities anew per difficulty.Isn't change in a single side of the scale enough,or do you guys follow the Hegel Theory?:)

Offline BTAxis

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Design: Difficulty
« Reply #5 on: April 30, 2006, 11:34:21 pm »
Well, I'm not saying ALL the parameters I mentioned have to necessarily be changed. They're just parameters that COULD be changed to affect difficulty. This is a brainstorm thread, after all.

Offline XCOMTurcocalypse

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Design: Difficulty
« Reply #6 on: May 01, 2006, 10:28:36 pm »
OK.I brainstorm a bit then:just change Alien stats.

Offline Bandobras

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Re: Design: Difficulty
« Reply #7 on: June 18, 2006, 10:39:18 pm »
Quote from: "BTAxis"
* Very Easy


Should be very easy. I mean ridiculosuly, so that a person having no idea what the game is about can get to mid-game just pressing [Enter] all the time and thus get attracted to the game by all the shiny screens and models.

Quote from: "BTAxis"
* Really Quite Hard


I think several of those would be nice, even if no developer is ever able to beat even Hard. Players will be able... :) This is especially true if there is a scenario mode, where you load a fixed map with a fixed team and try to beat that, boasting on the forum about your exploits on harder and harder difficuties.

Quote from: "BTAxis"
What could the difficulty setting influence?
- Alien numbers on the batlefield
- Alien aggressiveness (number of UFOs, alien bases and their increase)


I think these should not be influenced, because it is very hard to balance. You get less aliens, so less weapons, less funding, etc., and you and up with easy being harder in the long run than hard... All the rest in OK.

Quote from: "BTAxis"
On a related issue, there is the difficulty of battles. I believe even battles in later stages of the game should still be winnable for fresh recruits.


They have better weapons and armour, so they should make it, especially if you can choose missions you are good at (no need for the game to especially prepare easy missions, I think). Unless I underestime the effect of soldier stats, but if so, this is a completely different story. In the mid-game you can also afford to fire recruits that have bad survivability-stats and you have bigger dropships so you can rely on numers.

Northen_Wolf

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Design: Difficulty
« Reply #8 on: June 19, 2006, 02:17:57 pm »
Very easy - aliens are dumb, weak, have lot of weapons, when see u try to run awey, BIG starting funds, countryes won't submit alien so easly. MAX 2-3 bases on earth a.s.o.....

Easy- aliens are smarter try to doge for cover, shoot u countryes submit more with aliens, less starting money. Max 5 bases on earth harder units more terror attacks.

normal - aliens Well... normal. Have not too much nor too less thec, countryes submit alinens when massivly attacked, max bases 7-8 bases, also trying to lure your mens out a.s.o...

Hard - max bases unlimited. aliens smart, wait for u do much damage, even suicide with granade, having lots of weapons but reaschr times are huge, also an addon that captured alien help with reachers (making capturing important as its hard, more terror attacks

* Really Quite Hard - max bases unlimited, less or almost no starting money, less income from countryes, BIG penalties (when u ignor terror site or something) capturing HARD, aliens instead of attackin u directly make hit-n-runs, extreamly storn aliens, bad equipment at beggining (i know its sounds hard but it has to be hard)

* Suggestion in hard and * Really Quite Hard mode - How about fast ufos? even small ufos carry lot of well equiped troops, land less <-- hard time getting the required element (zrbite or eleranium or whatever) and w.o. element weapons reachers + sciense tooks lot of time, mens moral drop like hell when get shooted at...


Sorry about all the typos  :oops: hope you get what i am trying to say...

cycyc

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Design: Difficulty
« Reply #9 on: July 28, 2006, 11:30:31 am »
There is definetly a problem here: I started RC3 on very hard an made every mission without a loss. The main problem is: When I make a mistake and position my soldier badly, most times the alien steps out makes a quick fire and disappears or makes 2 fires and has no t.u. to go back. But with an armor I survive even 3 fires.
On the otherhand an alien hardly ever survives even an SMG quickfire. So the main problem is just Health and Armor . This should be implemented fist.
On the otherhand I agree with Northern_Wolf. Aliens should behave more stupid in the simple modes. I think adding a random generator for making random steps - In pseudo code (DL= difficultylevel [1..5]):
Code: [Select]

if random(5-DL) <> 0 then alien.nextstep = random(8)

would be a quick but maybe not final solution.

Offline Bandobras

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Design: Difficulty
« Reply #10 on: July 28, 2006, 12:49:19 pm »
Difficulty settings are not ready yet. See wiki TODO. Not much work remains, but still. Currently (from RC3 onward) you get the easiest battlescape difficulty setting even at the Hard Campaign. If you want some challenge, type difficulty 3 on the console (but it's persistent!). Hard Campaign should set difficulty to this nubmer, instead of -3.

altugi

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Design: Difficulty
« Reply #11 on: July 28, 2006, 02:19:34 pm »
I believe that aliens shouldn't behave dumb. Because a dumb opponent just lowers the quality of the conflict you are in, and as a result, this lowers the respect towards the story you are part of.

In scriptwriting it is always suggested to spent as much time on developing the personality of the bad character as you spend on the good character. In other words, an opponent without depth just feels fake, and so does feel the story as a whole.

I think it would be a better idea to modify armor stats, health rates, squad numbers, tech-tree, money etc that result in failure of the aliens, so that even in easy mode, we maintain the feeling that beating this opponent was an achievement, not a gift or sort of a gimmick so that we can play this game.

I describe easy level as that version of the game which we can win easiest, without losing respect to our opponents and the game.

Maybe another option could be to have some sort of a dumbness-hierarchy within the alien species. Antropomorph aliens don't do dumb things, while lower alien life forms just act on insticts and thus reveal themselves in ways we would rather classify as dumb. Also we could differentiate these species through some character traits, for instance their priorities during fight: Some always care about not being hurt, some always aim to collect the guns of fallen soldiers, some always come from behind etc... So if you have to face a mix of these guys, you have many things to fear or to take into calculation. These traits also support variety, as you do not fight just "aliens", but you fight different alien personlities. So the difference between aliens isn't just shape and color; shape and color also indicate a certain personality with its own traits etc.

altugi

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Design: Difficulty
« Reply #12 on: July 28, 2006, 05:26:35 pm »
We can at least try to classify the factors that have an impact on difficulty.

First, lets see what can be modified on the Phalanx' side...

Money
Enables item purchase, hiring and firing, building etc
More money simply means that the maintenance of the current status becomes easier. Also growing the organization will be easier.

Research times
Enables the use of new technology or the gathering of valuable knowledge
Shorter research times mean we can respond faster to the technological progress of aliens, enforcing our options to cope with the aliens.
Even if we have lots of money (giving us flexibility in organizational issues), longer research times will put constraints on our ability to follow alien progress. The inbalance however, could be overcome with money, since money will enable us to take certain measures, like building new bases, having more vehicles, recruiting more soldiers etc.

Restrictions on items, vehicles and soldiers
Items, vehicles and soldiers are our tools in tactical combat, the more these tools vary and the more we have of them, the higher are the chances that we succeed tactical missions, sometimes because of the simple fact that we outnumber the opponent quite heavy or because the total fire power we can employ is simply to much to resist against. Also in the long term we won't face any shortage of items, vehicles or soldiers, especially in times in which alien attack waves become more intense.
However, if we allow just two new units a week, or simply increase the price of these, or simply reduce the amount of money available, the result will be shortage, sooner or later. This will reduce options and mobility, thus creating pressure and difficulties in management and maintenance of status.

Carrier capacity
Affect the number of units that you can take with you in combat.
Could cause difficulty if combined with less money (you can't buy lots of vehicles) and bigger alien squad (you face the danger of being outnumbered in combat)


The Alien side...

AI
Alien behavior will have a direct impact on the outcome of tactical missions. Hiding, coming form behind etc...This will affect our losses, civilian casualities etc.

Alien numbers
Again having an impact on tactical mission difficulty. You simply need to fight longer and more effective to fight more aliens.

Alien weapon stats
Capacity, range, destructive power... they are quite decisive in tactical combat. A unit with a rocket launcher can be quite effective.

Ammunition
The number of ammo that an alien unit can use in total. It's more difficult to survive the attacks of an alien with a rocket launcher that carries six grenades with it compared with an alien that has just two grenades.

Alien skills
An alien with higher accuracy will be more dangerous than an alien with low accuracy.

Alien armor/protection
An alien with stronger armor will be more resistant to damage, thus more difficult to kill.

Alien TUS
An alien with more TUS, will have it easier to approach, fire and retreat.

Sophisticated alien moves or alien tech
An alien that can fly, is invisible to a certain degree etc enjoys tactical advantages in combat.

Attack intervals.
These decide the number of missions we have to fight. Thus the interval has an impact on consumption of items, hired staff and in general, expenditure. Low income will cause shortage in the long term. Adding longer research time will make the situation even worse.

Alien Infiltration
Causes change in the stance of our partners towards us. It results in lower cooperation and finally, the denial of goods and services.
Could have an impact on organizational issues, access to cruical items needed in combat... actually it can result in a lot of trouble.
Infiltration rate will be depending on attack intervals.


Both sides...

Rewards and penalties for tactical mission
They will have an impact on income from tactical missions and the reputation of the Phalanx
As there will be a limited number of missions, it is hard claim that rewards or penalties will have a very big impact. But if reputation has an impact on the weekly payment of the UN, then this can be considered as a money issue.
This topic must be also related with the Alien side, since alien performance definately will have an impact on the outcome of tactical missions, thus affecting our level of reputation in the the eyes of the UN. There is a direct correlation between alien strenght and reputation-based Phalanx-income.

Capturing items for research
New items mean new research, which means new means to cope with alien threads. Research also enables us to reproduce captured items or make use of the ones we have already captured, meaning we have lower costs, we can make some extra money by selling those items, and last but not least, it means we gain new advantages in tactical combat due to the weapon features we can make use of.
Capturing items is depends partly on alien behavior and skills, so it's basically determined by the rules and sequences of tactical combat.
This makes the topic an alien related one in first stance. But due to its impact on money issues, it must be seen also as an Phalanx side issue.
I believe this is one of the key elements in the overall game economy.
Longer research times will also have an impact on how much use we can make of captured items. Longer research means, it will take longer to benefit from the capturing. Longer production times of these items will also have an impact on the money that we can make during a certain period.


TBC (To be continued)

altugi

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Design: Difficulty
« Reply #13 on: July 28, 2006, 05:44:31 pm »
Personally I believe that increase in difficulty should start with modification on the alien side.

Level: Private (Easiest)
The version of the game that can be won easiest without losing respect to the opponent, the game and overall believability. Aliens are not dumb, but low in numbers, attack intervals are longer, so you find plenty of time to reorganize, should you fail in a row of missions. Technological advance of aliens is slow, so most probably you will have defeated them before they even come with a technology that really poses a threat. You also do not lose any territory or partners, since infiltration takes to long and can't reach a level that causes some problems. In other words, aliens are not able to convert their abilities into superiority.

Level: Sergeant (Easy)
Aliens are stronger and higher in numbers compared to Easy level, there is an increase in attack intervals. This causes more missions and also results in an increase of infiltration levels. Technology develops fast, at least at the beginning stage of the game. But money levels etc are sufficient to overcome the challenge. In the long term, the aliens are simply not strong enough to maintain their slight superiority in the beginning stage of the game. Sooner or later, you'll catch up with them and reduce their presence.

Level: Captain (Medium)
The version of the game that is really challenging and requires some good effort to be mastered. Aliens are quite powerful, big in numbers and it needs quite a time until the player manages to bring balance into the game through research and other means. Aliens take an early technological lead and maintain technological advance until late into the game. Infiltration becomes an serious issue. You feel pressure in money issues.

Level: General (Hard)
At this level, Phalanx stats are modified too. Income has decreased, items are harder to find etc... Bringing balance into the game is "hard" and can only be mastered by those who really know the ins and outs of the game. It's for those who know the later stages of the game and have clear ideas about taking measures early in the game to overcome future problems. It will take long nights and carefully planned playing to win at this level. But it is not impossible to win.

Level: Harakiri (Insane)
For the mentally sick players. Aliens stats are at strongest levels, while Phalanx levels are at the edge of being ridiculous.
You can't win this. You can only loose better.

Offline Bandobras

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Design: Difficulty
« Reply #14 on: July 29, 2006, 01:32:36 am »
Some pretty relevant insights. In particular your definition of the easiest acceptable level as the lowest that doesn't make loose respect for the aliens and the game is very smart.

However, I think you are wasting you talent spending so much time on things that will not be implemented for a long time. I would heartily encourage you to contribute something that will get into the game in the matter of weeks, if not days. In particular, right now, lots of wiki texts are getting into the game and are verified and rewritten before an en.po freeze.

If you could look at the texts, perhaps look at them in ufopedia too, and help making it a coherent whole or just help with particular entires... (Type research_all in the console to see them all, and use trunk or the upcoming RC4, or the unofficial xdelta files for it). I invite you especially to the pages that I have under my care, that is Equipment and Damage Types. But others are interesting too, especially Skills. Feel free to ask questions and discuss on the wiki pages.

Cheers. :D