Normal vs Hard

[Hauler Bob]

In terms of AI health and damage, is the difference noticeable? What difficulty do you play on? I want to do a custom game, but trying to get the right blend of survival feel and not bullet sponge AI.

[ConflicT Zv]

Normal health, damage and armor is fairly forgiving. High health doesn't add much to difficulty as weak point hits still work just as well. High armor can get annoying to deal with and is a more significant jump in difficulty. High damage can be rough if you're not comfortable with the melee combat, but you can always stay at range. You end up going through armor and healing like crazy if you don't play carefully.

My preferred custom settings:
-Enemy health, damage, armor- high
-Enemy aggression- medium or high (still trying to figure out what I like better here)
-Day length- long
-Season length- long
-Starting season- spring
-Precipitation chance- low
-Animal spawns- low
-Survival damage- on
-Consumable effects- low
-Food and meds- low
-Single use containers- on
-Inventory pausing- off

Not sure if I missed anything.

[Ataxio]

I find hardmode in these games distasteful. But I'm not a fan of inflated HP / reduction of damage ect for difficulties.

Generally, games are balanced around normal mode and thus offer the best experince.

[ConflicT Zv]

I would agree that having a single curated difficulty is the best way to experience a game. But I do appreciate having custom options to tailor the game to my liking. The settings I use have been much more enjoyable to me than any of the preset difficulties have.

[Hauler Bob]

Originally posted by ConflicT Zv:

Normal health, damage and armor is fairly forgiving. High health doesn't add much to difficulty as weak point hits still work just as well. High armor can get annoying to deal with and is a more significant jump in difficulty. High damage can be rough if you're not comfortable with the melee combat, but you can always stay at range. You end up going through armor and healing like crazy if you don't play carefully.

My preferred custom settings:
-Enemy health, damage, armor- high
-Enemy aggression- medium or high (still trying to figure out what I like better here)
-Day length- long
-Season length- long
-Starting season- spring
-Precipitation chance- low
-Animal spawns- low
-Survival damage- on
-Consumable effects- low
-Food and meds- low
-Single use containers- on
-Inventory pausing- off

Not sure if I missed anything.

Why Consumeablers effects on low? I high they didnt seem that bad? But Idk

[ConflicT Zv]

Originally posted by Wilford Brimley:

Why Consumeablers effects on low? I high they didnt seem that bad? But Idk

It's just another way to create artificial difficulty. Because loot is pretty plentiful as is, even with single use crates on. So you have to eat/drink more at a time and use more meds/herbs to heal. Then you have to hunt, loot and forage more often to restock. It helps a bit with the end game problem of sitting in your base with fully stocked shelves and nothing to do.

That's just how I look at it anyway, feel free to play however makes the game enjoyable for you.

[Hauler Bob]

Originally posted by ConflicT Zv:

Originally posted by Wilford Brimley:

Why Consumeablers effects on low? I high they didnt seem that bad? But Idk

It's just another way to create artificial difficulty. Because loot is pretty plentiful as is, even with single use crates on. So you have to eat/drink more at a time and use more meds/herbs to heal. Then you have to hunt, loot and forage more often to restock. It helps a bit with the end game problem of sitting in your base with fully stocked shelves and nothing to do.

That's just how I look at it anyway, feel free to play however makes the game enjoyable for you.

Do you have Cold Penlties on Normal or Hard? I was reading your other comments from different topics about cold. Seems cold is kind of... too much, confusing atm? Should I just put that as normal in your opinion

[ConflicT Zv]

Originally posted by Wilford Brimley:

Do you have Cold Penlties on Normal or Hard? I was reading your other comments from different topics about cold. Seems cold is kind of... too much, confusing atm? Should I just put that as normal in your opinion

All my testing had been done with cold effects on high, which actually brings up a good point that I should test them again on normal. But as of right now I can't exactly say what the difference is. Yes you are correct the cold effects don't make a lot of sense so keeping them on normal is probably the safest bet.

[Hauler Bob]

Originally posted by ConflicT Zv:

Originally posted by Wilford Brimley:

Do you have Cold Penlties on Normal or Hard? I was reading your other comments from different topics about cold. Seems cold is kind of... too much, confusing atm? Should I just put that as normal in your opinion

All my testing had been done with cold effects on high, which actually brings up a good point that I should test them again on normal. But as of right now I can't exactly say what the difference is. Yes you are correct the cold effects don't make a lot of sense so keeping them on normal is probably the safest bet.

One last question. What is the rain percentage turned to when placed on High instead of normal?

[ConflicT Zv]

Originally posted by Wilford Brimley:

One last question. What is the rain percentage turned to when placed on High instead of normal?

I have not tested that so I don't know. I set it to low in hopes that it would snow less during winter, since many of the problems with temperature stem from snowy weather making you instantly wet. In my most recent game I haven't gotten to winter yet. When starting in spring with long seasons, the first day of winter is day 30.

[Mick Savage]

I don't have any specific numbers but hard mode just feels like punishment.

Water and food are difficult to maintain but the Ai still sucks and our weapons don't do enough damage imho. I'm not sure what the devs are going for here, it's not fun at all.

As much as I want to play hardcore only an idiot would do that, just play normal unless you like banging your head against a cement wall.

[LILI]

Originally posted by Mick Salvage:

(...) As much as I want to play hardcore only an idiot would do that, just play normal unless you like banging your head against a cement wall.

It simply means that a hardcore mode is not made for you, and it is not because it is the case for other players that they are idiots...
Just play what pleased you, according to what you look for. And if you find a wall and you have no fun finding a way for going around it, just tune the game to your liking in custom.

For my part, I find the current "hardcore survival" too simple as it is not yet balanced, and after playing and testing for some hours, you simply know what to do, in what order and timing, etc...
I am used to challenges, and have time and will for coping with some difficulties. It is my pleasure, and I won't find that people who like easier modes are idiots or intelligent: they just do where the fun is for them, if they can find it : the game is not always fun for some parts as it is not balanced in harder modes, and better to stick to what you like, especially if you feel that you hit your head on a wall...

I agree with Ataxio above, increasing health/strength for enemies is often a "quick and dirty" solution. I prefer the "Green Hell" approach where the balance is the same (1 balancing system, so the dev have an easier life for tuning it), and I would prefer to see hard levels with simply less things to work with for the player, Ex
- no gun/fire arms (like in Green Hell), but much more important to craft basic things, and maintain it (items damaged)
- more poisonous/disease in a tropical environment,
- more "intelligent" attacks without doing a tsunami of enemies spawning by waves,
- randomise item / cave distribution at start so a map is never the same, you do need to explore without external tips, and there is no routine,
- etc...

When you are used to some mechanics, and of course not using any mod, cheat, console, editing, there is always a way if you are patient. And if the game is flawed in a part, be patient is the key ... for waiting for a patch ...

[ConflicT Zv]

Well put @LILI. The highest of difficulties aren't for everyone and there's nothing wrong with playing the game in a manner that suits your preferences. That's why I appreciate the custom difficulty settings. After my struggle on hard survival, I've found much more enjoyment playing in custom. It was funny to me that the hard part of hard survival, was not the actual survival mechanics themselves, but rather surviving the relentless hordes of enemies bombarding me every few minutes. This was also compounded by my lack of experience in combat, Virginia being bugged and never showing up, my decisions to spend 25 days building a base with no good weapons to fight the scaling attacks, as well as my base location and design. It was a fun challenge, a great learning experience and made me much better at the game as a result, so I'm not dissatisfied with the playthrough but rather the emphasis on where the difficulty is placed, in a mode that should be focused more on survival elements.

[Mick Savage]

Originally posted by LILI:

Originally posted by Mick Salvage:

(...) As much as I want to play hardcore only an idiot would do that, just play normal unless you like banging your head against a cement wall.

It simply means that a hardcore mode is not made for you, and it is not because it is the case for other players that they are idiots...
Just play what pleased you, according to what you look for. And if you find a wall and you have no fun finding a way for going around it, just tune the game to your liking in custom.

For my part, I find the current "hardcore survival" too simple as it is not yet balanced, and after playing and testing for some hours, you simply know what to do, in what order and timing, etc...
I am used to challenges, and have time and will for coping with some difficulties. It is my pleasure, and I won't find that people who like easier modes are idiots or intelligent: they just do where the fun is for them, if they can find it : the game is not always fun for some parts as it is not balanced in harder modes, and better to stick to what you like, especially if you feel that you hit your head on a wall...

I agree with Ataxio above, increasing health/strength for enemies is often a "quick and dirty" solution. I prefer the "Green Hell" approach where the balance is the same (1 balancing system, so the dev have an easier life for tuning it), and I would prefer to see hard levels with simply less things to work with for the player, Ex
- no gun/fire arms (like in Green Hell), but much more important to craft basic things, and maintain it (items damaged)
- more poisonous/disease in a tropical environment,
- more "intelligent" attacks without doing a tsunami of enemies spawning by waves,
- randomise item / cave distribution at start so a map is never the same, you do need to explore without external tips, and there is no routine,
- etc...

When you are used to some mechanics, and of course not using any mod, cheat, console, editing, there is always a way if you are patient. And if the game is flawed in a part, be patient is the key ... for waiting for a patch ...

I wouldn't stay hard mode is not for me, not even close. I love a challenge, I'm even waiting for the game to develop before finishing it because it's too easy.

The devs simply focused on the wrong things when they added hard survival. Instead of making cannibals stronger they made water dirty. You may agree with Ataxio and think it's cheesy, but that is the very definition of hard mode, the enemies get stronger.

I like patches to make sense, for there to be some kind of progression. If this next patch is just more niknaks for us to play with I'll be upset to say the least. Right now the only challenge is food/water.... yeah!

[Mick Savage]

Originally posted by ConflicT Zv:

Well put @LILI. The highest of difficulties aren't for everyone and there's nothing wrong with playing the game in a manner that suits your preferences. That's why I appreciate the custom difficulty settings. After my struggle on hard survival, I've found much more enjoyment playing in custom. It was funny to me that the hard part of hard survival, was not the actual survival mechanics themselves, but rather surviving the relentless hordes of enemies bombarding me every few minutes. This was also compounded by my lack of experience in combat, Virginia being bugged and never showing up, my decisions to spend 25 days building a base with no good weapons to fight the scaling attacks, as well as my base location and design. It was a fun challenge, a great learning experience and made me much better at the game as a result, so I'm not dissatisfied with the playthrough but rather the emphasis on where the difficulty is placed, in a mode that should be focused more on survival elements.

I think you guys need to read the thread again lol
There's nothing difficult about SotF atm haha!

Cannibals are still dumb on hard mode, and no content has been added except one side boss. Like I said it's only food and water that got harder, but that doesn't take skill to master it's just an annoyance.

[ConflicT Zv]

Originally posted by Mick Salvage:

I think you guys need to read the thread again lol
There's nothing difficult about SotF atm haha!

Cannibals are still dumb on hard mode, and no content has been added except one side boss. Like I said it's only food and water that got harder, but that doesn't take skill to master it's just an annoyance.

Sorry, I guess I misunderstood your point in your previous post then.