Unwinnable seal level?

[MattStriker]

So for the second stage of my first seal, I need to either...get two trade routes (a feature I haven't unlocked yet), or gain 3 reputation points from either events or high resolve.

The problem with the latter is that I'm already at full reputation. I can't lose reputation and no matter how many events I do the counter doesn't go up, so has the level become unwinnable for me?

[el Darkness]

I am afraid there is no way to lower your Reputation. Quite a few times here people have posted that rushing Reputation (getting full blue bar) during Seal run is detrimental. I believe in your case you may need to forfeit the Seal.

[Ramonkey]

Hmm interesting. You should make a feedback/bug report on this because this seems like an oversight

One solution to this would be to make it so the ability to reforge seals becomes available only after you’ve unlocked all the basic functionalities in the citadel (like the ability to trade)

[Decius Brutus]

I'm pretty sure that you can gain reputation from events even at maximum reputation. Send some crates back.

[CPT Chthonbeard the Pirate]

Failing a seal is not a permanent setback either though. Sure it feels bad, but take this loss as a learning experience. Now you know what to expect for next time. You leave your naivete behind on that map, and take with you newfound knowledge.

[el Darkness]

In many games, Rougelites especially, first boss is so brutal, that he will eat your face and spit it next to your corpse, forcing you to adapt your tactics in later attempt or face defeat again. In AtS Seal is the Boss, it has to be tough, otherwise there will be no challenge.

[MattStriker]

There's "tough" and there's "you played too well in the first 2/3 of this map, sorry now the game is unwinnable literally one step before victory". One is a design choice, the other a design flaw.

Anyway, in the end I found that while no amount of sending packages to the queen did anything, boosting resolve into the blue DID still increment the counter (just too slowly for me to see it earlier) so I was able to narrowly beat it by chucking most of the forest into my hearth.

[CPT Chthonbeard the Pirate]

Originally posted by MattStriker:

There's "tough" and there's "you played too well in the first 2/3 of this map, sorry now the game is unwinnable literally one step before victory". One is a design choice, the other a design flaw.

Anyway, in the end I found that while no amount of sending packages to the queen did anything, boosting resolve into the blue DID still increment the counter (just too slowly for me to see it earlier) so I was able to narrowly beat it by chucking most of the forest into my hearth.

That's interesting that high resolve reputation still counts past max rep. Good testing. Funny that the opposite one isn't true though. Clearly one of the two is a bug and should be fixed, possibly both.

[el Darkness]

Yeah, that is a new information for me (possibly for many people). I would preffer to see it possible to "gain Reputation" after the bar is full, even if it would only count for Impatience/Objective, but I am aware this may not be intended.

[Decius Brutus]

Impatience reduction is intentionally finite, so that there is a timer on each settlement. What I would like to see in seal levels is overloading reputation giving more blueprint choices.

[info]

Originally posted by MattStriker:

There's "tough" and there's "you played too well in the first 2/3 of this map, sorry now the game is unwinnable literally one step before victory". One is a design choice, the other a design flaw.

Anyway, in the end I found that while no amount of sending packages to the queen did anything, boosting resolve into the blue DID still increment the counter (just too slowly for me to see it earlier) so I was able to narrowly beat it by chucking most of the forest into my hearth.

if that's intentional, it's the most ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ design choice I've seen in a long while.

or if it's a bug or an oversight FIX IT!!! please.... asap!

[poppindancers]

I did that by earning reputation via glade event.

That said, it certainly wasn't pleasant and I do wish for objective that scales accordingly.

[Sarek]

You can still win reputation from events or resolve despite having maxed it.
No problem with that, I completed a seal with the same thing this morning, but yes the annoying part is that you cannot really track your progress and have to wait until it's ok.

[el Darkness]

In games with finite resources you can play "too well", in this case it means you were not cautious or paying attention. I agree that this can be a brutal surprise, but it is not uncommon in games (it is more common in boardgames though).

That said I would prefer Reputation to be gained normally after maximg it, but as someone noticed, it is still possible to gain Reputation, just not all sources of Reputation will work sadly.

[Ignosius]

I would say this falls under "design flaw", especially for someone's first time going into a seal.

You're only told that you need to reach the seal, not that there will be a bunch of progress that you need to make once you get there. Even if you suspect that it might be the case, you would probably prepare as much as you could before hand, which would involve getting Reputation and unlocking as much as possible, leaving you with not enough "progress" to be made once you reach the seal.

I would say the best way to resolve this would be to make the seal requirements retroactive, but make them harder. Instead of "raise Reputation three times starting now", it could be "raise Reputation five times total". That way it's tied to total progress and it doesn't matter how much you've done prior to reaching the seal.

[TripSin]

Originally posted by Decius Brutus:

I'm pretty sure that you can gain reputation from events even at maximum reputation. Send some crates back.