Game Difficulty

[Holon]

I debate with myself about buying this game. But I have seen quite some reviews that say this game is unreasonably hard to play.

I like challenging strategy games, but I'm a little intimidated by the reviews I have seen. Can you guys elaborate on the difficulty of this game a bit? Are there options to customize difficulty?

[mhardisty]

Originally posted by Holon:

I debate with myself about buying this game. But I have seen quite some reviews that say this game is unreasonably hard to play.

I like challenging strategy games, but I'm a little intimidated by the reviews I have seen. Can you guys elaborate on the difficulty of this game a bit? Are there options to customize difficulty?

Hi Holon. One of the things to consider is, since release, there have been a number of difficulty re-balancing done on the game, to make some of the lower difficulty levels slightly easier. There is also some further updates coming soon which will give even more player control to the difficulty elements within the game.
In my experience, most people who flag that the game is super hard tend to play on the harder difficulty levels. (And the harder difficulty levels are hard)...
Hope this helps....

[Holon]

Originally posted by mhardisty:

Originally posted by Holon:

I debate with myself about buying this game. But I have seen quite some reviews that say this game is unreasonably hard to play.

I like challenging strategy games, but I'm a little intimidated by the reviews I have seen. Can you guys elaborate on the difficulty of this game a bit? Are there options to customize difficulty?

Hi Holon. One of the things to consider is, since release, there have been a number of difficulty re-balancing done on the game, to make some of the lower difficulty levels slightly easier. There is also some further updates coming soon which will give even more player control to the difficulty elements within the game.
In my experience, most people who flag that the game is super hard tend to play on the harder difficulty levels. (And the harder difficulty levels are hard)...
Hope this helps....

Thanks. I appreciate the game is actively developed and balancing is in progress. Most of the reviews I have seen on Youtube praise this game as high quality RTS, although they say it's hard. So I decided to buy this game.

[BobOnix]

Honestly there's way too much too do in each mission, for instance, one mission,requires you too.

1 hold an area,
2 not let the the convoys through (from 2 cardinal directions
3. support the AI take a prison
4. get a special weapon from the opposite side of the map guarded by heavily entrenched in buildings
5. help a neutral faction by giving them that said weapon
6. save a pilot from the north, and get him south
7. hold 5 different locations along the path
8. avoid annoying neutral faction by circumventing a no go zone which conveniently is between helping the AI, a entry point for convoys
ALL AT THE SAME TIME

all whilst, micro managing fuel trucks, ammo for squads, by putting them inside vehicles, that depletes the ammo, which then need to go back to the ammo truck to resupply,

and on top of that the heavy RNG mechanics, that wreck your best vehicles, kills your squads, (imagine CoH vehicle damage simulations)

by the end of it your Microing 20 different squads
2-3 supply trucks
a tank, Bradly, an IFV
2 Humvee
5 rocket squads
5 infantry
10 drivers
8 pickups you get the idea.

infantry inside buildings just don't die so that's more annoyance. frankly its not hard, its just too much all at once to really be nothing more then frustrating and no real feedback as to whats going on in each unit unless you physically click on them and check each unit is supplied.

on top of that pretty bad feedback an readability on smaller units and engagements so you never really know if your winning.

and don't listen to the "dev" talking about "players talk about harder difficulty cos they play harder levels" This is on NORMAL they throw everything and the kitchen sink at you and expect you to grow an extra pair of arms like Krishna to play in what can be only described as a patchwork level design job with no real structure.

[Narf]

I dunno about too much going on, missions can require you to keep an eye on multiple things, but the game also has a pause button, which allows for precise mikro management.
The original difficulty from the game came from the supplies you need for your troops on the world maps, which you also use to buy new equipment and supplies, train your troops.
I usually had too many forces and were forced to trim down my task force on the world map, in tactical combat I rarely had problems.
Quite important is to grab any vehicles you can get your hands on, but don't be afraid to sell them.
So tldr I'd say yeah, the game can be challenging, but it also gives you the tools to not be unfair. And I kinda enjoyed the struggle for supplies, cause it is an apocalypse it helps to build the feeling of setting. It is a struggle for survival.

[MD]

Originally posted by Holon:

I debate with myself about buying this game. But I have seen quite some reviews that say this game is unreasonably hard to play.

I like challenging strategy games, but I'm a little intimidated by the reviews I have seen. Can you guys elaborate on the difficulty of this game a bit? Are there options to customize difficulty?

The game being hard is one of its strenghts. This was one of the main reasons I bought it myself. I love the challenge and to see if I can beat a certain mission in a certain way. And as the devs said, there are different diffuculty settings. I prefer to play on Hard and it is great. Where normal feels too easy for my personal taste. Hope it helps with your purchase.

[kampfer91]

I play on Easiest that this game still harder than game from Eugen studio which is notoriously known for having hard single player campaign .

It have many mechanics that does not mesh well with each other and the more you play , the more you see how it stack again you . You could be placing ATGM on top of the hill or a straight road and it won't fire at the enemy but A.I can fire at you while sitting at the same position .

Unit slow to respond and die quick so extra micro is needed in order not to waste them since you can't build them like other RTS .

You gonna save scum a lot during your play-through . I have played many RTS of all kind before , from the casual Starcraft , Men of wars to Wargame series and honestly ? This game managed to upset me a lot , but game are meant to put a smile on you after a day of hard-working . You like it , more power to you , but make no mistake , this game is on HARD side of RTS spectrum .

[MrMysteriousPointMan]

I think the game should allow you to retain the engineer squad obtained in mission 3 as their anti-tank mines can significantly reduce the difficulty of mission 5.

Otherwise, you would need to level up a technician squad in mission 4 and pick the "anti-tank mine" perk.

[Holon]

Originally posted by BobOnix:

Honestly there's way too much too do in each mission, for instance, one mission,requires you too.

1 hold an area,
2 not let the the convoys through (from 2 cardinal directions
3. support the AI take a prison
4. get a special weapon from the opposite side of the map guarded by heavily entrenched in buildings
5. help a neutral faction by giving them that said weapon
6. save a pilot from the north, and get him south
7. hold 5 different locations along the path
8. avoid annoying neutral faction by circumventing a no go zone which conveniently is between helping the AI, a entry point for convoys
ALL AT THE SAME TIME

all whilst, micro managing fuel trucks, ammo for squads, by putting them inside vehicles, that depletes the ammo, which then need to go back to the ammo truck to resupply,

I guess that is a problem when you play this game like an RTS. I played quite a few realtime games with pause and I am fine with using pause in this game. And I like realtime with pause in general.

[Holon]

Originally posted by MD:

Originally posted by Holon:

I debate with myself about buying this game. But I have seen quite some reviews that say this game is unreasonably hard to play.

I like challenging strategy games, but I'm a little intimidated by the reviews I have seen. Can you guys elaborate on the difficulty of this game a bit? Are there options to customize difficulty?

The game being hard is one of its strenghts. This was one of the main reasons I bought it myself. I love the challenge and to see if I can beat a certain mission in a certain way. And as the devs said, there are different diffuculty settings. I prefer to play on Hard and it is great. Where normal feels too easy for my personal taste. Hope it helps with your purchase.

We agree on that. I bought this game because of the challenge. Although I started on normal to get into the game.

[Holon]

The only thing I am really missing in this game so far is markers, that show where I sent my units to. And some sort of visual confirmation for command queues. It's really hard to remember that at times. It's also a feature this game really should have. I don't see why you wouldn't want it.

[REhorror]

Originally posted by MrMysteriousPointMan:

I think the game should let you keep the engineer squad from mission 3 as their anti-tank mines can significantly reduce the difficulty of mission 5.

Otherwise, you would need to level up a technician squad in mission 4 and pick the "anti-tank mine" perk.

Well, you can also let the Rangers learn C4, which is even better than the anti-tank mines and can be remotely detonated.

[Crystal meth enthusiast]

It is hard because:
1. To win on some missions you must know what happens in advance. And be prepared for it. I don't want to spoil how bad things will become.
2. You can not replace strong units. So you will need to restart if you loose something good.
3. A lot of things affected by your choices, actions and success/fails. And there are lot of places for a fail.
4. Supply system.

Since you move same army, all small problems and miscalculations becomes a HUGE problems at late game.

[Billy_Bligh]

Originally posted by BobOnix:

Honestly there's way too much too do in each mission, for instance, one mission,requires you too.

1 hold an area,
2 not let the the convoys through (from 2 cardinal directions
3. support the AI take a prison
4. get a special weapon from the opposite side of the map guarded by heavily entrenched in buildings
5. help a neutral faction by giving them that said weapon
6. save a pilot from the north, and get him south
7. hold 5 different locations along the path
8. avoid annoying neutral faction by circumventing a no go zone which conveniently is between helping the AI, a entry point for convoys
ALL AT THE SAME TIME

all whilst, micro managing fuel trucks, ammo for squads, by putting them inside vehicles, that depletes the ammo, which then need to go back to the ammo truck to resupply,

and on top of that the heavy RNG mechanics, that wreck your best vehicles, kills your squads, (imagine CoH vehicle damage simulations)

by the end of it your Microing 20 different squads
2-3 supply trucks
a tank, Bradly, an IFV
2 Humvee
5 rocket squads
5 infantry
10 drivers
8 pickups you get the idea.

<snip>

I really like that level of complexity and micro - makes more of a challenge. But I appreciate that isn't the same for everyone

[Booba]

In my experience, Defiance is more frustrating than it is challenging. The only difficulty is in getting over whatever obscene thing happened that pissed you off.

There are some great and challenging missions though. Midland comes to mind: a test that I initially failed, and in failing it, said "this test is stupid!" But on my second try, I realized I'd missed the prompts telling me what I needed to do, and subsequently had a wonderful, hair-raising and memorable time, executing a fighting withdrawal in the face of overwhelming strength.

Originally posted by Crystal meth enthusiast:

4. Supply system.

Since you move same army, all small problems and miscalculations becomes a HUGE problems at late game.

Even going blind into this game, I never once had any issues with running out of supplies. It's not at all complicated to maintain a buffer of more supplies than you currently need, on the understanding that your force is always going to be burdened with salvage after any mission, and that you won't always have immediate access to a Cash For Wrecks Store.

Don't drive six days into the desert with seven days worth of supplies. It's not the science of the rockets.

[ChaosDancer]

Originally posted by BobOnix:

Honestly there's way too much too do in each mission, for instance, one mission,requires you too.

1 hold an area,
2 not let the the convoys through (from 2 cardinal directions
3. support the AI take a prison
4. get a special weapon from the opposite side of the map guarded by heavily entrenched in buildings
5. help a neutral faction by giving them that said weapon
6. save a pilot from the north, and get him south
7. hold 5 different locations along the path
8. avoid annoying neutral faction by circumventing a no go zone which conveniently is between helping the AI, a entry point for convoys
ALL AT THE SAME TIME

all whilst, micro managing fuel trucks, ammo for squads, by putting them inside vehicles, that depletes the ammo, which then need to go back to the ammo truck to resupply,

and on top of that the heavy RNG mechanics, that wreck your best vehicles, kills your squads, (imagine CoH vehicle damage simulations)

by the end of it your Microing 20 different squads
2-3 supply trucks
a tank, Bradly, an IFV
2 Humvee
5 rocket squads
5 infantry
10 drivers
8 pickups you get the idea.

infantry inside buildings just don't die so that's more annoyance. frankly its not hard, its just too much all at once to really be nothing more then frustrating and no real feedback as to whats going on in each unit unless you physically click on them and check each unit is supplied.

on top of that pretty bad feedback an readability on smaller units and engagements so you never really know if your winning.

and don't listen to the "dev" talking about "players talk about harder difficulty cos they play harder levels" This is on NORMAL they throw everything and the kitchen sink at you and expect you to grow an extra pair of arms like Krishna to play in what can be only described as a patchwork level design job with no real structure.

This is btw the second mission after the tutorial :)

Furthermore that mission becomes very easy IF you give one or two of your units mine laying, making the whole map very easy. Second the prison can be taken after you finish the 10 waves and then give the item to the said faction with no consequences.