View Issue Details
| ID | Project | Category | Date Submitted | Last Update | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0010609 | Valley 2 | Gameplay - Balance Issue | Feb 6, 2013 8:32 am | Feb 8, 2013 11:55 am | |
| Reporter | Acetyl | Assigned To | keith.lamothe | ||
| Status | resolved | Resolution | fixed | ||
| Product Version | 0.728 | ||||
| Fixed in Version | 0.801 | ||||
| Summary | 0010609: Storms and warp points | ||||
| Description | I'm not actually sure what to say, nor how to word this, because I can't quite figure if I actually see any issue in it. It's akin to looking for solutions without knowing if there's even an initial problem. As referenced in the image, it is somewhat late game, and the map is awash with constant storms that expand their tendrils outwards in fairly unpredictable ways. Over the last few turns, I've moved resistance fighters the maximum they could be, cleared paths, but the storm always finishes them off. I lost 4 in the last 3 turns. The thing is, I can't really find a direct problem with it, in and of itself. The intensity and losses match the sort of full scale warfare that inevitably comes to a fruition in latter parts of conflict, and it fits well with the feel of the game. I like the heavy amount of strategy and sensation that you have your back to the wall, and are up against a vastly more powerful foe. But I think there needs to be some form of counter balance that simply is absent. The enemies on the world map are indirectly due to the storm, but mostly because I didn't put significant effort into moving to remove them, I'll just strip that out as a variable. The storms themselves are able to spread too easily, and the player has no preparatory ability to counter it. Which almost removes some of the preplanning aspects, which is useful in keeping you on the run. But it's too immediate. This ties in by association, so I'm merging it into one post. The warp points are very unbalanced. Even early, to midway through the game, Demonaica quickly achieves what might as well be omnipresence on the map. The player finds themselves avoiding areas near warp points altogether, and establishing temporary bases far away. This is fine on it's own, but it lacks the ability to turn the enemy's inherent advantage (briefly) to your own, and takes on more a feel of being stampeded than subtle and precise resistance. [End half coherent post] Summary - Storms - Storms are too quickly able to be turned to lethality by their seemingly arbitrary spread and remission. This is certainly a good representation of real storms, but the player needs something on their side that feels like "survival." Perhaps, expanding out the newest addition of "fortified (insert time period here)" there could be cheap, and very temporary cover for storms able to be constructed. They would differ by region, and for the sake of immersion, they could even differ by the actual class of the resistance member. Maybe isolate it to only one makeshift cover per 3 tile radius, to simulate an epicenter of the first contact with the storm, and the natural branching outwards if you are forced to move. Their durability would last 1-3 turns, the player not ever able to fully know. This allows both temporary cover to get your bearings as things change around you, as well as the more "dug in" approach. Which would differ by storm type as well. Warp Gates - As mentioned earlier, if forced to move near warp points, as often seems to happen, Demonaica is able to simply jump back and forth between them, and almost anywhere else. What comes to mind, is having the ability to "seal" a warp point. The process would take 2 full turns, and would only be able to be done once per warp point. The warp point would only be re-openen if an enemy physically reaches it directly, much like any other constructed building. This allows for more branching strategies, and adds to the already existing "last stand" feel of many encounters. I'm reluctant to critique anything without having a legitimate idea of what to be put in it's place. In this case, it seems more a matter of absence than presence. My two cents on the matter. | ||||
| Tags | No tags attached. | ||||
| Internal Weight | New | ||||
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Wow, you were really getting slammed ;) A points of clarification: As your end-of-turn report says, those storms are cast by Demonaica. They don't occur naturally, and they don't "spread": the only time a tile gets one is as part of an overlord spell (which happens every 4 turns on default difficulty). And the only time they go away is 4 turns later (2 turns for glacier, and I think one other). And a few questions: 1) What strategic difficulty level were you playing on? Those storms seem a bit big for a turn-67 spell, though I guess that is fairly late-game. 2) Could you attach a zip of your saved world? It would help debug the spellpower math and so on. On the warp point thing, yea, I think there's probably too many of those. Thanks :) |
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I'm playing on the default difficulties. I can't quite recall their names at the moment, I think "rook" and "adept"? -World file uploaded |
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Ok, if that was default difficulty there's definitely some bug at work: at default he gets one "normal" spell every 4 turns (he gets extra free summons on the lair, active deep gates, and an extra debuff on the stratospheric citadel... Oh. The stratospheric citadel. I think I know what happened. Thanks :) |
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For 0.801: * Post world-gen, but before you actually see the world, the strategic difficulty now controls the maximum number of warp points in the world (2/3/4/5/7, according to difficulty) since that's such a big factor in how dangerous the overlord is. * Fixed a bug where the overlord's "free" overland area-spell on an active stratospheric citadel could actually wind up targeting wherever it would hit the most NPCs. Since this could happen every turn (unless the citadel had an area spell active on it), and for each of the two citadels... well, ouch. Really big ouch. Thanks :) Particularly on the area-spell thing, what you were experiencing was nothing at all like what it was supposed to be, even on the highest strategic difficulty level. You were getting _hammered_. |
| Date Modified | Username | Field | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 6, 2013 8:32 am | Acetyl | New Issue | |
| Feb 6, 2013 8:32 am | Acetyl | File Added: 2013-02-06_00006.jpg | |
| Feb 6, 2013 9:01 am | Acetyl | Description Updated | |
| Feb 8, 2013 10:51 am | keith.lamothe | Note Added: 0030584 | |
| Feb 8, 2013 10:51 am | keith.lamothe | Assigned To | => keith.lamothe |
| Feb 8, 2013 10:51 am | keith.lamothe | Status | new => feedback |
| Feb 8, 2013 11:04 am | Acetyl | Note Added: 0030585 | |
| Feb 8, 2013 11:04 am | Acetyl | Status | feedback => assigned |
| Feb 8, 2013 11:04 am | Acetyl | File Added: The Line.zip | |
| Feb 8, 2013 11:43 am | keith.lamothe | Note Added: 0030586 | |
| Feb 8, 2013 11:55 am | keith.lamothe | Internal Weight | => New |
| Feb 8, 2013 11:55 am | keith.lamothe | Note Added: 0030590 | |
| Feb 8, 2013 11:55 am | keith.lamothe | Status | assigned => resolved |
| Feb 8, 2013 11:55 am | keith.lamothe | Fixed in Version | => 0.801 |
| Feb 8, 2013 11:55 am | keith.lamothe | Resolution | open => fixed |
