Is it me or difficulty rating is just random ?

[Artyom]

I was doing level 2 skull missions, getting comfortable with a game. I decied to do 1 skull mission just for curosity and I got overwhelmed by 10 enemies surronding me. I thought I was just unlucky but than I tried two more times and got killed again. I have lost all cool gear I can just delete my save and start again at this point.

[Alastair]

yeah no I been having the same issues.. I cant seem to get anywhere I have used all resources, have to keep making a new game and I do the one skull missions and I get demon spawn just everywhere.. I'm wondering if the skulls dont mean what we think it does.

[pgames-food]

hi as far as i have seen so far, the skulls do make a difference - at least in the defence missions ive done with the new 0.6 version.

level 1 and 2 i could try with just 12 shotgun shells and the rest picking up guns from others (including some grenades of course) :)

and then needing several grenades/mine, full stack of ammo, and 1 turret

but a level 3 quasi defence mission, killed me 3 times (2 times with my 2 semi-skilled characters) and then 1 or 2 times as new clones, but i didnt give up - and 3rd (or 4th) time lucky, because i learned the map and re-positioned myself to have a better chance :)

and it felt good afterwards, even though i lost some good stuff, i still came away with 2 full rows of cool alien tech mostly. (but it would have been 3 rows full, if i hadnt lost my only 2 Fighter backpacks)

[zverozvero]

Noticed it only on deffence missions. Usually more skulls means more and tougher opponents. Then again if you restart same mission several times it can be armored fiends all over the place and on another roll - loincloth assault.

On everything else results vary. Had 5 skull assassination with 2 floors of mostly nothing and right after that base capture for 1 skull.
5 floors with 30 kills each.

[JedEyESunder]

any quasi morph mission period is not easy even if they say it is, Apparently the skulls only represent how long the level is vs how hard it is(how it should be).

in order to make it to late game you have to find a way to deal with quasi morph entities by either befriending them or killing them.

[Flavalicious]

The skulls don't mean next to ♥♥♥♥ all. Seems almost entirely based around the defending faction, and their current tech level. I'd say that accounts for like 40-60% of the challenge rating, the quasimorph planetary mutations for that system account for another 15-20% and the skull rating accounts for like 10-20% of the overall difficulty lol.

A 1 skull against a leading faction in a quasimorph area is going to be more noticeably difficult then a 3 skull battle on the same planet against one of the lesser factions. Its pretty frustrating overall, the UI could definitely use some work for redability.

[pgames-food]

(btw the 3 skull mission i did defending from teztclan was about 80 turns if it helps to correlate something)

[Alastair]

Originally posted by JedEyESunder:

any quasi morph mission period is not easy even if they say it is, Apparently the skulls only represent how long the level is vs how hard it is(how it should be).

in order to make it to late game you have to find a way to deal with quasi morph entities by either befriending them or killing them.

befriending them?

[zverozvero]

Originally posted by pgames-food:

(btw the 3 skull mission i did defending from teztclan was about 80 turns if it helps to correlate something)

1 skull was ~60-64 i think. Perhaps?
It dont affect number of floors though so i'm a bit skeptical about mission length depending on skull rating.

[Cookie]

Originally posted by Alastair:

Originally posted by JedEyESunder:

any quasi morph mission period is not easy even if they say it is, Apparently the skulls only represent how long the level is vs how hard it is(how it should be).

in order to make it to late game you have to find a way to deal with quasi morph entities by either befriending them or killing them.

befriending them?

If you do missions for the Quasimorph faction you can "fun" benefits.

[pgames-food]

Originally posted by zverozvero:

Originally posted by pgames-food:

(btw the 3 skull mission i did defending from teztclan was about 80 turns if it helps to correlate something)

1 skull was ~60-64 i think. Perhaps?
It dont affect number of floors though so i'm a bit skeptical about mission length depending on skull rating.

ah ok thanks, yeah maybe just for defence missions, it goes up in 10 or something (plus some other factors)

[JedEyESunder]

Originally posted by pgames-food:

Originally posted by zverozvero:

1 skull was ~60-64 i think. Perhaps?
It dont affect number of floors though so i'm a bit skeptical about mission length depending on skull rating.

ah ok thanks, yeah maybe just for defence missions, it goes up in 10 or something (plus some other factors)

the defence missions are supposed to last 80 turns since new update, that is correct.

[pgames-food]

ah thanks

[Alastair]

Originally posted by Cookie:

Originally posted by Alastair:

befriending them?

If you do missions for the Quasimorph faction you can "fun" benefits.

Does that mean when they appear, they will not attack me on my map?

[Flavalicious]

Rip. Just threw 3 agents including my best guy in great gear down the drain on a 800 reward 2 skull mission lol. Come down to 2nd floor, big room with 3 doors, start clearing a single door, get bum rushed by 30 mobs from the 3 doors. Literally broke both my ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ weapons trying to kill them off, had brought alternate ammo to ensure I had the right damage type for anything. I guess i should of brought 5 nades and just prayed I didn't RNG throw one into my corner.

Pretty ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ frustrating man.

[pgames-food]

i still need to try molotovs - managed to make 1 makeshift grenade, and 1 molotov so far, but will need to try it in an empty room with a few enemies, just to make sure that it doesnt burn all their gear and items too. (its arguably still worth it to burn them and their items, if it saves you, but am always trying to collect all the loot if possible) :)

but, if it can help to clear out mobs, fire could be a good go-to where possible, as long as it doesnt burn all the loose stuff you wanted later :)