Seals are not...great

[JasTiger]

Just chiming in here to say, I really enjoy the game, but find myself bashing my head against the wall with the seals being unlocked or defeated or whatever. Its not very fun to build up a settlement and really grind it out to get everything satisfied despite the odds and STILL find yourself RNG'd out of beating the seal because you didn't get the right blueprint or species combo for what you get.

It seems on these maps in particular it notes what i select early in the game and doesn't give me those blueprints so i'm always left short when it comes to crunch time. Its just not a good time. Any updates to these systems planned so that the seals are much less of a grind and impossible situation after otherwise good games?

[pi73r]

There are 3 quest to choose from and most of em aren't even blueprint based.

[joiss90]

I have had some issue with the seals as some of the darkness effects are quite brutal like the one that claims villagers life unless you open 2 dangerous/forbidden glades combined with hostility (1+) effect of giving -10 resolve for 3 min when opening a glade

But I don't really care that much as I know I am not the best and mess up at times and I probably will finish getting the last seal eventually

[HouseOfTheRat]

Originally posted by JasTiger:

It seems on these maps in particular it notes what i select early in the game and doesn't give me those blueprints so i'm always left short when it comes to crunch time.

This might be sarcasm, but just in case: Nope.

As you said, it is just rng, same as any other settlement - so you just need to be more prepared. These are the game's boss fights, so of course they are harder than a normal stage. You can always take a look at the wiki if you want to know what the seals have in store for you.

[SalleStar]

Is it even possible to get final seal while running P20 from the very get-go? I average about 10 years per P20 game and that is not enough time for me to reach the seal and/or gather the required fragments.

Am I just bad or do I need to be strategic and do the early mission on low difficulty and finish in a few years?

[Skallagrim]

10 years seems way too long. There are people that win routinely in 5 or fewer on P20, occasionally 6 when bad RNG hits.

Personally I'm not that good and don't play on P20 all the time. I play mostly on P15 instead and usually win in 5 years.

[Samseng Yik]

Beating the seal is just a fixed planning.
Once you do it once or twice, it will be much more easier to win next time due to the "lack of randomness".
Basically, just get a lot royal resupply for the reserve embark point, then all unleash into 1 go at seal.

If you really really want to "save your time", you can backup the whole save file folder into desktop, before you attempt the seal. If you lose, delete all save and paste back the full save file folder.

[Nordil(Hun)]

Originally posted by Skallagrim:

10 years seems way too long. There are people that win routinely in 5 or fewer on P20, occasionally 6 when bad RNG hits.

Personally I'm not that good and don't play on P20 all the time. I play mostly on P15 instead and usually win in 5 years.

Pff...:D I once had 22 years for a P20:D
I just wanted to beat it and had very very bad stuff, but was still salvageable i know most folks would give up by that time:)

About the P20 in 5-7 years requires a different kind of mentality.
Which most players lack, they want to casually build their stuff enjoy their settlement prosper a bit etc. With that rushed attitude there is no such chance. Everything is just calculated so the game becomes more of something similar to work than enjoyment. Or a trophy to show around.
It stops being a game i would say, but of course it is my oppinion.
I think my record was 4 years, but then i had very very good RNG-s.
Made it somehow less...challenging and interesting. As many of the mid game and late game challenges will be something you do not need to deal with or even take into account.

My usual playstyle gets me a win between year 7-16. Depending on RNG. I just dont feel like rushing to the point of...unless i want to break a seal:)

But anyways for SalleStar if you enjoy the game there is nothing to be worried about.
play and enjoy yourself this is what this game is about, not really about competition.:)

[Prowler™]

Yes, the seal forest is not very fun.
No, its not unfair or difficult.
The difference is it plays the opposite to the rest of the game. Expanding your village too much will end your run lol
But you can take dozens of bonus embark points at the start and pick lots of blueprints/supply lines/extra materials to make the slog less sucky.
Personally i'll save up a stack of points and take a farm blueprint to gain food and fuel + supply lines to trade. This makes the seals almost trivial, no matter how bad your rolls are at any prestige you should still be able to grind out a win by starting with the farm+supply lines.

[SalleStar]

Alright, yeah I might be stuck in some alpha-version mindset of finding win-conditions. Gotta look up some youtube and update my arsenal.

But indeed, it probably wont be as fun (just like the favor-toggle abuse in the early stages).

Thanks for the answers everyone :)

[JasTiger]

Thats a fair point to use embark points, bank them up, and throw them all at supply lines. Maybe that is the strategy I'm missing out on. It is just unfun to build and build and build and then get hard locked from defeating the seal because you need some rando blueprint or resource that you just dont' have access to, especially since reputation doesn't reduce impatience after a certain point.

[JasTiger]

Also when folks say that it doesn't stack blueprints against you or plan against you...I've taken several different camps on several different runs, maps, locations and i've never - NEVER - had the camp I've chosen to take be the type of resource in the starting glade or first few glades open. Its like it knows I picked Trappers Camp and then never puts down any trapper items. SO I'll take the Herb Camp, same thing. Its pretty consistently NOT giving me what I need.

No one else experiences this?

[Lukker]

Originally posted by JasTiger:

Also when folks say that it doesn't stack blueprints against you or plan against you...I've taken several different camps on several different runs, maps, locations and i've never - NEVER - had the camp I've chosen to take be the type of resource in the starting glade or first few glades open. Its like it knows I picked Trappers Camp and then never puts down any trapper items. SO I'll take the Herb Camp, same thing. Its pretty consistently NOT giving me what I need.

No one else experiences this?

At the risk of stating the obvious here, do you always make sure that the resource nodes you're looking for can even appear in your current biome?

[JasTiger]

Oh yeah for sure. It just happens to either never show up (cuz I win by the time i expand too far) or they show up way way far away form the basic glade area, thus making the extra camps useless.

[HouseOfTheRat]

At the risk of stating the even more obvious: if you keep winning without ever needing to use the optional bonus you selected, a) this doesn't sound like a problem and b) pick another bonus that you think you might actually need to use.

If the game is still so easy that you don't even need to make use of the large deposits that do appear in your map, maybe bump up the difficulty a P level or two.

[JasTiger]

Its a problem when I DO bump it up or run into the seal events is the point I was making there. It just feels like a waste and everyone else says to use it as a way to help win, but then it never seems to work.