They didn't balance the latter half of the missions for solo play, did they?

[Sabaithal]

On hard mode at least, because everything is easy on normal or below.

Pretty much every mission past 83 seems like it needs stupid OP weaponry to beat solo on hard so far. Mostly just too much stuff coming at you, not enough accessible health (when you have to keep falling back because holding your ground isn't possible), and ridiculous hard targets on top of that.

Seems balanced for online play well enough, but for solo play this just isn't doable without a lot of grinding or hit-and-run/cheese tactics (which isn't viable for all classes).

Not really a complain I suppose, just discuss?

[iAmTurok]

Just in case you didn't know.
The game is balanced for offline play, or online 2p, 3p and 4p.
Online solo uses same enemy damage/hp scaling as 4p (which is 2.2x I think), to encourage you to play with others. Do not be like so many other newbies that grind online solo, you will waste time.
And I'll add that it's better balanced than EDF 4, especially for offline inferno.

[King Fossil]

Hard shouldn't need grinding or cheese.
Maybe you're using inappropriate weapons/equipment?

[Plumber]

The later missions are more challenging across the board because they are conceptually harder and feature a wider variety of enemies. This applies inversely to higher difficulties as well; they might have bigger numbers and more intensity for both players and enemies, but the early missions are still generally going to be conceptually easy, though some get some alterations on Hardest/Inferno.

You’re definitely supposed to struggle with the late missions; lots of nasty surprise reinforcements and diverse enemy lineups. Some stages could be considered harder versions of scenarios already seen earlier in the game. The weapon rank system bottlenecks you on a first playthrough and the slower classes have a much harder time surviving surprises (and surviving in general), but unless you’ve gotten fantastically bad luck with weapon drops it should be doable regardless of class as long as you’re playing effectively and carefully.

[darkblade]

Originally posted by King Fossil:

Hard shouldn't need grinding or cheese.
Maybe you're using inappropriate weapons/equipment?

yes, everything is possible with a lot of trial and error

but you have to admit that there are some missions that were simply created after the developers took 1 kg of drugs

but there are also missions that come at the beginning that are just unnecessarily difficult

[Sabaithal]

Any mission is possible if you get in a blacker and driver backwards constantly while shooting. But I'd rather not have to resort to that every mission (unless its on inferno, then its expected). Pretty much every mission past 83 that feels like the optimal, and only real strategy after about halfway through the mission.

Except mission 109 which is just a challenge to see how long before your retinas burn out.

[cris3f]

Originally posted by Sabaithal:

Any mission is possible if you get in a blacker and driver backwards constantly while shooting. But I'd rather not have to resort to that every mission (unless its on inferno, then its expected). Pretty much every mission past 83 that feels like the optimal, and only real strategy after about halfway through the mission.

Except mission 109 which is just a challenge to see how long before your retinas burn out.

Later missions require more knowledge of them (flow, spawns, what to target first) and how to play.
Are you using NPCs? They're there for a reason and one of the game's best features. As long as they're alive enemies will likely give more attention to them than to you, and yes, they can even help a lot in killing enemies.
Running for health should be your last resort, although it's crucial on a few missions, and the main point on 5 is keeping your NPCs alive longer.
On some missions powerful enemies are worse, on some, it's the small stuff. Knowing that is part of getting good at it. Generally spawners / transports should be dealt with ASAP , because it's worthless to kill enemies if new ones keep getting back.

I personally find AR and Fencer a bore below hardest. Too slow and weapons are insipid. These classes do shine on Inferno on 5 though. WD is more or less the same throughout the game, Ranger is more difficult on Inferno.
Weapons RNG doesn't help sometimes.
All classes will struggle on a few missions, but be stellar on others. It comes from their characteristics, weapons and the way they can be played. It's the same on all Sandlot games.
Solo is always harder because you have to do missions yourself, no one to save your ass at any time or to do the mission for you.

Mission with Erginus and Arkelus are almost 99% luck. Unless you can one-shot them or almost, and some classes can do that using overpowered or over the mission limit weapons.

109 is easish once you know the mission flow. The only problem with that mission is the last phase of the turrets, and having NPCs alive at that point to sustain the damage from them is key. Then you either go for the turrets if you think it's viable, or just go directly for the core (but do see that heavies will come before the core is destroyed).

Last, on Inferno you can't run away on a Blacker and shoot things on most missions, enemies will outpace you, and flyers will crush it fast. The only vehicle that will have speed to outrun most stuff is Grape, but it can be trashed in a snap and it's a difficult beast to tame.

If you're having difficulties on a particular mission, watching videos on how others solve it will help, but try to find good ones or you'll learn zilch. It's the second best way to learn the game, after playing it yourself solo.

There's always the farm armor solution, if that's your thing. The series takes a long time to be reasonable at, so if you're not willing to spend it you'll certainly struggle.

Have fun,

[King Fossil]

Originally posted by darkblade:

yes, everything is possible with a lot of trial and error

but you have to admit that there are some missions that were simply created after the developers took 1 kg of drugs

but there are also missions that come at the beginning that are just unnecessarily difficult

I don't think the game needs trial and error or is that crazy. I'll admit that I've never tried ranger solo inferno though. Did everyone else, but not ranger. Don't think I ever will either, I want to recharge for 6 so I'm going to avoid playing anything EDF until it releases.
I do agree that the difficulty can be odd though. The mission early on where the air force fails to shoot down the teleport ships and they dump ants all over you is pretty crazy for that point. Especially on hardest/inferno when there are gold ants involved. Or other strange things like how the mission that introduces drones has them swarm you instantly, but then the next mission has them start off unaggroed so you can take it slowly. It seems like they should be other way around so you can learn how drones work without every one of them rushing you, but they're not. Strange.

[Sabaithal]

Originally posted by King Fossil:

Originally posted by darkblade:

yes, everything is possible with a lot of trial and error

but you have to admit that there are some missions that were simply created after the developers took 1 kg of drugs

but there are also missions that come at the beginning that are just unnecessarily difficult

I don't think the game needs trial and error or is that crazy.

- Solo
- Hard or greater difficulty
- Any class (ranger is probably the easiest though)

Most missions are fine, until about 84. So go ahead and give that a shot.

[King Fossil]

Originally posted by Sabaithal:

- Solo
- Hard or greater difficulty
- Any class (ranger is probably the easiest though)

Most missions are fine, until about 84. So go ahead and give that a shot.

I just said that I have solo inferno clears on every class but ranger. And he's definitely not the easiest. Ranger is hard mode since you have bad mobility and unimpressive weapons.

Just to be clear, you are playing offline, right? Not online on your own? Because like that other guy said, if you play online mode then the enemies get big buffs to compensate for that, even if you're playing by yourself. Solo online is ultra hard.

[Saint]

The last run of missions is definitely challenging, though that makes sense it's the end of the game. They're all definitely doable though, just a matter of learning strategies and figuring out what weapons are best to bring to what.

[Nyx (She/Her)]

iirc there's a mod that cuts the solo scaling back to....solo

[Zephyr]

If you have troubles with a certain mission, tell us your loadout and approach, and we will try to help you pick a better loadout if necessary and maybe change your approach.

A few notes though:
-Aggro management is paramount. Don't go blasting at everything you see, that's the best way to die stupidly.
-Cover matters a lot. Destroying covers can have you hoisted by your own petard.
-Don't fight hard, fight smart. Positionning is important, movement is important, when engaging aliens, make sure you neutralise them by hitting hard and fast(leg, weapon arm is a classic method).

[Ohmz]

Originally posted by Nyx (She/Her):

iirc there's a mod that cuts the solo scaling back to....solo

You mean solo online? Interesting, so it disables when a 2nd person joins the room?

[Sasha Pines (no brain)]

Originally posted by Ohmz:

Originally posted by Nyx (She/Her):

iirc there's a mod that cuts the solo scaling back to....solo

You mean solo online? Interesting, so it disables when a 2nd person joins the room?

it pretty much go back to normal if a player join

[Elucidator]

Originally posted by Sabaithal:

On hard mode at least, because everything is easy on normal or below.

Pretty much every mission past 83 seems like it needs stupid OP weaponry to beat solo on hard so far. Mostly just too much stuff coming at you, not enough accessible health (when you have to keep falling back because holding your ground isn't possible), and ridiculous hard targets on top of that.

Seems balanced for online play well enough, but for solo play this just isn't doable without a lot of grinding or hit-and-run/cheese tactics (which isn't viable for all classes).

Not really a complain I suppose, just discuss?

No.

I can say that for sure because I am a try hard; the first thing I do in games is try the most difficult difficulty lol.

I cleared Hardmode on all characters before clearing the game and this was essentially easy.

The thing is, this proves the point of sandlot's design, you shouldn't be playing on Just 1 character. You play others and get armor on those for your main as well.
If you play Every Character and do every mission on hardmode once, you'll have 2500HP on Wing Diver (at least that much) assuming you collected every armor box at least
You have double that on fencer, etc.

Play the lower difficulty first if you don't want to do that.

But anyway, the other part of this is that by playing every class you get weapons for your main as well, which inproves their grade.

Yes, a lot of mobs show up, but that is normal on Inferno and in EDF. And yes you can win with weak, underpowered weapons. You just need to play more carefully.

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I recently got a similar comment about the mission Suicide Squad, which is slightly over mission number 100. Someone couldn't clear it on Wing Diver on hardmode. (solo offline play). I cleared it using low armor / weak weapons. How? Circle flying and landing, not constant flying, and of course using phalanx + healing the allies there. My attacks were focussed on the bees and spiders mainly.

Fencer doesn't need explaining. Anything would work so long you use jumps and boosts.

Air Raider, you need Napalm Bombers to keep a wall in check and prevent spiders and rollers from approaching. The napalm also kills them. Same deal, heal allies, they're your turrets, so focus on healing them and staying alive.

Ranger is the easiest class I think.

Guess what, you can use this tactic on every difficulty for this mission.
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Now then, If you have trouble with the game at the moment, you haven't played EDF enough and rushed to mission 83 too quickly. This is what I assume at least.
You will either need to play to practise your skills more or to get more armor and weapon upgrades. Both will work.

In case you really haven't and you haven't figured out what to prioritize or how to play, sometimes you need to run away and shoot (kiting); sometimes you need to use the buildings as cover. Sometimes you--- just get fired at. Use what is around, not just what is in your inventory. Enemies target your torso, not your head so you can get them to shoot at walls if done right and create an opening.

Anyway, you do not need the DLC for more missions. You also do not need some overpowered lategame reward. Anything you can unlock till that point on hardmode you can use.
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PS: I like the weapon and armor level limits, gives more challenge on Online mode.
Also if you play solo online, the game gets very difficult which is interesting. ;p
(unless you disable that, which most people will do I guess)

Hope that helps. Good luck.