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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2015 15:23:46 GMT -5
There seems to be a trend in the difficulty scale, no matter the difficulty setting and map. Its challenging in the beginning of the game when you just start out and xenos first start attacking, when you don't have the economy or RP to build and mantain high-end ships and upgrades. It becomes hardest in the middle of the game, when you've unlocked some more tech and have invaded a few planets but you still haven't unlocked the really high-end ships and xenos are coming in swarms. Then, as you invade more and more planets, the game gets easier and easier, and by late game, when you've invaded more than half of the map, its not very challenging anymore and hence not very fun. By very late game, it's become so easy that it's boring. The garden tries to fix this by having lots of different AIs, so as some AIs become weaker when you invade thier colonies, other AIs become stronger. However, there is alot of space between clusters of planets, and as a result, some AIs are too far away to attack you. Not all AIs can attack simutaniously, and you can pretty much deal with one AI at a time. So I had an idea for an even harder map: one that has lots of AIs in every direction like the garden, but even more dense with planets, so all AIs have lots of colonies close enough to lead to a constant battle at every front. Furrhermore, there'd be a special "boss" AI, the Heela Alien. This alien would be significantly more powerful than the other enemies, so much so that you wouldn't be powerful enough to fight it until you defeat all the other aliens first.This would ensure that the game stays challenging and interesting, even when you've invaded most of the map, up until the very end.
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Post by bookworm21 on Feb 17, 2015 17:23:03 GMT -5
There seems to be a trend in the difficulty scale, no matter the difficulty setting and map. Its challenging in the beginning of the game when you just start out and xenos first start attacking, when you don't have the economy or RP to build and mantain high-end ships and upgrades. It becomes hardest in the middle of the game, when you've unlocked some more tech and have invaded a few planets but you still haven't unlocked the really high-end ships and xenos are coming in swarms. Then, as you invade more and more planets, the game gets easier and easier, and by late game, when you've invaded more than half of the map, its not very challenging anymore and hence not very fun. By very late game, it's become so easy that it's boring. The garden tries to fix this by having lots of different AIs, so as some AIs become weaker when you invade thier colonies, other AIs become stronger. However, there is alot of space between clusters of planets, and as a result, some AIs are too far away to attack you. Not all AIs can attack simutaniously, and you can pretty much deal with one AI at a time. So I had an idea for an even harder map: one that has lots of AIs in every direction like the garden, but even more dense with planets, so all AIs have lots of colonies close enough to lead to a constant battle at every front. Furrhermore, there'd be a special "boss" AI, the Heela Alien. This alien would be significantly more powerful than the other enemies, so much so that you wouldn't be powerful enough to fight it until you defeat all the other aliens first.This would ensure that the game stays challenging and interesting, even when you've invaded most of the map, up until the very end. I like the idea of a boss alien mothership kinda thing. Would it spawn at a certain point, or just be sitting there dormant until discovered? A mobile colony could be an interesting way of implementing this.  |
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Post by fallen on Feb 17, 2015 17:44:18 GMT -5
@starfixer - great map suggestion! We are working on capital class ships that would function a bit like alien bosses.
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Post by hlo on Feb 18, 2015 14:18:51 GMT -5
The boss alien race should be available on all difficulty levels when there 3 or more xeno race selected. It should start far away enough from the player's starting location that it will take some time before the player's main force will run into them.
Dreaming.... Maybe the boss alien should start "eating up" hence attacking the other aliens after 10 game years......
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Post by En1gma on Feb 18, 2015 15:01:23 GMT -5
That. Would. Be. Amazing. That would make for such a crazy interesting end game. Break up the monotony of capturing systems and force the player to retool their fleet from conquest to destroyer. The epicness.
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AA
Templar
Torps away!
Posts: 1,382 
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Post by AA on Feb 18, 2015 15:51:29 GMT -5
And "eating" the other aliens makes it stronger
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2015 23:00:27 GMT -5
The boss alien race should be available on all difficulty levels when there 3 or more xeno race selected. It should start far away enough from the player's starting location that it will take some time before the player's main force will run into them. Exactly what I was thinking. The whole point of the boss AI is to be a significant challenge even after you've unlocked all of the research and have already built up a substantial economy. In order for it to be challenging during late-game though, it would have to be impossible to fight early-game, which is why it would stay far away from starting location. By the time you reach it, you should already have quite an advanced empire. |
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azedenkae
Consul
[ Star Traders 2 Supporter ]
Posts: 87
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Post by azedenkae on Feb 19, 2015 0:36:13 GMT -5
Maybe make it different modes?
Standard = x amount of aliens, kill them all.
Boss! = x amount of aliens, including a boss, kill them all.
Hive Queen = x amount of aliens, including a boss, only need to kill boss (a single ship possibly) = win.
Might as well, suggestion:
Capture the artifacts: artifacts in a number of systems, have to capture a number of them and bring them to your own systems = win, can steal enemy's artifacts by destroying the containing ship/system.
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Post by hlo on Feb 20, 2015 11:08:12 GMT -5
Maybe make it different modes? Standard = x amount of aliens, kill them all. Boss! = x amount of aliens, including a boss, kill them all. Hive Queen = x amount of aliens, including a boss, only need to kill boss (a single ship possibly) = win. Single ship may not work too well for the current combat system IMO. Not all of us have huge space combat fleets usually. By then I probably have some high experienced Troop Transports that I want to use as well. I think the Boss colony should be strong with very high quality and population, way higher than the 20 we see right now. It should have at least 2 nearby colonies that are fairly strong and have very high production rate to spew out xeno ships like 1 per turn. |
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azedenkae
Consul
[ Star Traders 2 Supporter ]
Posts: 87
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Post by azedenkae on Feb 20, 2015 19:41:04 GMT -5
Maybe make it different modes? Standard = x amount of aliens, kill them all. Boss! = x amount of aliens, including a boss, kill them all. Hive Queen = x amount of aliens, including a boss, only need to kill boss (a single ship possibly) = win. Single ship may not work too well for the current combat system IMO. Not all of us have huge space combat fleets usually. By then I probably have some high experienced Troop Transports that I want to use as well. I think the Boss colony should be strong with very high quality and population, way higher than the 20 we see right now. It should have at least 2 nearby colonies that are fairly strong and have very high production rate to spew out xeno ships like 1 per turn. Or that. or both. Since it is all options a player can choose, a single ship thing may be selected by some players who want a combat challenge whilst others may go for the high quality planet and population route. |
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