As a new player, Difficulty choice should mention Unlocks

[Knuppel]

I'm playing on Android. I'm still on my first character that I've been playing for a few weeks now. I picked a role that sounded fun and left the default difficulty setting during creation and was on my way. Today I happened to go back to the Main Menu and click on the Unlocks menu. I then realized that the default difficulty (Basic) was preventing me from unlocking anything which was a bit disheartening. I haven't run out of ships to upgrade to so it's not the worst thing ever, but I definitely would have liked to get some unlocks on my first play through. I haven't felt like I've finished my fun with being a Bounty Hunter and I'm not ready to start a new class when I've still go so much more to experience in my first play through, so I'm pretty much stuck from getting unlocks even though I'm up for the challenge; until I start a new character. I have a couple ideas that could improve this.



1. The difficulty descriptions below Normal should have a warning: "Playing on a difficulty below Normal will exclude you from unlocking new ships". (This would be good to have regardless of implementing the other improvements)



2. Consider making Basic capable of unlocking ships. (Or, if that's too easy see #3.)



3. Consider making Normal the default difficulty instead of Basic, this would allow players to earn unlocks without research beforehand. (It's more common in games that if you lower the difficulty below default that you could miss out on unlocks/achievements)



4. Allow game difficulty to be changed mid game.

[fallen]

Thanks for the feedback!

1. We can work on making changes to the difficulty descriptions.
2. This isn't a change we will make.
3. Interesting, we've considered it but always found that it would be not helpful for new players.
4. Cool concept and something we added to TBF for new game +. STF is much more of a game you play with many captains, so I'd consider trying a new run on a new difficulty once you've mastered a lower one.

[drspendlove]

Yeah, I think #1 is a great idea.

[fallen]

Already done a few releases ago

[drspendlove]

Geez. I'm out of it!

[drawfonaf]

After i managed to get a quasi workable character together, i took a look at unlocks.

Oh, the command unlock looks pretty straightforward, but it has to be done early in play. Guess I'll just knockout a quick character designed to unlock that for my next level of play.

--several hours later--
Ok, I've tried this 4 times and the dang thing won't unlock. *steam eminates from ears* is it bugged? Or am i not understanding what they mean when they explained the unlock? Let's review the text...oh. duh! Difficulty level!

If the difficulty level requirements were in boldface, larger font, capitalized, underlined and in Neon lettering, blockheads like me would be less likely to miss the caveat.

Seriously though, since difficulty level is preeminent with most of the unlocks, making it more visible would save a bit of frustration to new players. Probably the easiest way to do this is to start the unlock description with the caveat.

e.g. Idiot Savant unlock: On difficultly normal or higher, stand on your head and spit wooden nickels.