End Game solution

from GalCiv2 Forums
Here's an idea to solve the end game problem.

When choosing the difficulty level i.e. tough or challenging, you could instead have it as the START point of the difficulty settings.

Once you begin a game at i.e. average the chronological timing takes places and the difficulty increases.

It should probably be included as an option rather than a real feature to avoid the depressing situation you get in Elder Scrolls: Oblivion when you have the kick ass gear but still get whipped by stray deer.

My thinking is that when you reach that mid-game point where you know you have won but only have to play smart to finnish off you don't get that sinking "why bother" feeling.

Instead, you could choose 'average setting to start with and the difficulty rating could increase every X years.

This idea might have been floated before or it might simply not work, but it is the closest I have come to a solution for what is the ONLY stain on an otherwise PERFECT gaming experience.
6,038 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Just to clarify; the difference betweent this solution and Oblivion would be that this one is tied to the games internal clock whereas Oblivion difficulty increases in conjunction with the character improvements.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
You want an increasing difficulty level over game time played?

If I am understanding your rather inept posts.


I am not familiar with 'Oblivion difficulty' - perhaps because I only have DL.

But an 'increasing level of difficulty' setting would be a nice feature, IMO.
Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
As someone who has played Oblivion extensively ( http://daysofoblivion.blogspot.com ) I just have to say that the difficulty scaling used in Oblivion was the most ridiculous and annoying one I've ever seen. They used vertical scaling (single encounters became more difficult to the point where you met 'bandits' with equipment worth thousands of gold) when they should have used horizontal scaling (groups and larger groups of the same enemy type, perhaps with a few higher ranking leaders thrown in).

Another game that uses variable difficulty is Unreal Tournament, where your performance in a level gets evaluated and then the difficulty of the next level is adjusted accordingly. If I remember correctly, even the first few Wing Commanders had a feature like that.

This second one is a version I could live with. At the end of a game, have the computer evaluate your success and then recommend the difficulty setting for your next game (e.g. 'You need more training, switch overall difficulty one lower' or 'You totally pwned me, set difficulty two higher' or even 'You're ready to try something more challenging, change one of the three AIs to a higher difficulty').
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The problem with a chronology-based increase in difficulty, is that the "tipping point" is reached at different times in different games, depending on what victory condition I'm going for, and how the other AI races are doing against each other. Map size will also have a big influence on when a victory condition is close.

A game timer can't possibly know when the player reaches that tipping point. It would be annoying if it kicked in too early, and worthless if it kicked in too late. Once you reach that point where you're 100% sure you'll win, the other races will be so far behind in territory, influence, or tech that getting an AI or economic boost isn't going to help stop the steamroller. It would just make the end-game more annoying by dragging it out.

That's the basic problem that has to be solved with any idea like this -- how do you make the end-game more fun, and not just delaying the inevitable? Stardock has their own solution: Mega events that shake up the game in a major way, although some of them are so overpowering/annoying that I usually turn them off.

An algorithm that was more dynamic; maybe comparing how far ahead you are in territory/money/influence compared to the other races, might work. But it would still be tricky to balance.

Actually I'm the type of strategy game player who doesn't mind bailing out of a game where it's clear I'll win (or lose). I don't need to see the final game screen on every game I play. But I wouldn't mind trying out a system like this, as long as I could turn it off if it didn't make the game more fun to play.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Another game that uses variable difficulty is Unreal Tournament, where your performance in a level gets evaluated and then the difficulty of the next level is adjusted accordingly. If I remember correctly, even the first few Wing Commanders had a feature like that.
End of quote


I remember that Wing Commander feature. It was a cool idea in concept, but it kinda failed in practice. All they did was throw more waves of enemy ships at you as your performance improved, instead of increasing the skill of the enemy AI pilots. Given the limitations in AI, I guess they couldn't do anything else... but that still got annoying after a while.

I don't think I'd want the overall difficulty of the next game adjusted automatically either (as in Unreal Tournament), unless that could be overridden by the player. I'll often jump back and forth between very different types of initial map setups and number of AI opponents, where I don't necessarily want the same difficulty level each time. Also, with the TA expansion, some of the races are now MUCH harder to play than others, which may require a different initial difficulty setting, to compensate.
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I agree, an automatic adjustment would be nothing more than a major annoyance. A recommendation or simple evaluation, however...

Often I find that I'm reluctant to up the difficulty of games, just because I have gotten used to the way it was. Several games (e.g. EAs Tiger Woods, CMR DiRT) do it this way. A simple message after winning too many games too easily, stating you're ready for the next level.
But with Stardocks excellent AI, I'm sure they could come up with a finer distinction than that. After all they have the logs and stats (and probably parts of the Epic Generator still buried in the code), comparison to other games you submitted to the Metaverse in terms of difficulty and outcome...
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Thanks for taking an interest in my "inept" post and replying. I must say I wasn't 100% confident in the solution and I am less confident of it now. Anyway, it was nice to float an idea and see such interesting feedback.

Regards,

VC