Cassandra and Phoebe - What's the Difference?

[[insert_name_here]]

So, I'm currently on my second colony. Both colonies were/are on Cassandra Classic and some challange difficulty (because I'm relatively new to the game). I wanted to try a different storyteller for my third colony, if/when my current colony is destroyed. Randy is too... random, so I want to try Phoebe.

So my question is: What's the actual difference between Phoebe Chillax and Cassandra Classic (apart from the fact that Phoebe tends to be slightly easier, according to the in-game description)? And what difficulty do you reccommend I play at if using Phoebe?

[✪ TobaeLover]

Well, there isn't other differences other than the slight difficulty difference... Other than that, I like playing Phoebe - Rough. Sounds so kinky

[Enigmatik]

Pheobe tends to space out raids, disasters, maneaters, etc, more, and throws in more good stuff like self taming animals, ambrosia, and so on.

[[insert_name_here]]

ok. So basically the only difference is that it's easier.

[Immortalits]

It only makes thing a bit less hectic, but raid are just as hard, if not harder a bit than in cassandra.
Makes things easier only by giving you time to recover yourself at least a bit before the next disaster.

[[insert_name_here]]

Ohhh, ok. That's nice! I don't like it when I get a manhunter pack of boomrats, and then a raid immediately afterwards! At least I'll get enough time to recover before the next disaster with Phoebe. Thanks.

[Sithis]

Originally posted by insert_name_here:

Ohhh, ok. That's nice! I don't like it when I get a manhunter pack of boomrats, and then a raid immediately afterwards! At least I'll get enough time to recover before the next disaster with Phoebe. Thanks.

Honestly, while I actually haven't tried them in a few updates, but way back when I played rough both with Phoebe and Cassandra (ooooh yes, kinky indeed), Phoebe seemed to only get to a certain level of, uh, violence, with her events basically being fixed at a level where they are more of an annoyance than something you need to adapt, or even actively react to (that's actually one of the reasons I haven't been relying much on turrets and mines in most of my recent colonies - that just makes fights boring); meanwhile, Cassandra would start slowly amping the ante the further into the game I go, to a point where yet another raid just turns my colony into fine paste (seriously, there's just that much I can do against some three dozens of pirates out of which more than 14 are wielding rocket launchers).

My storyteller of choice ever since was Randy Random, since he is capable of creating an actual story - one with random streaks of luck, or the years when your pawns question if their current situation is a punishment for their sins. He can be fairly harsh, but he is not i]specifically[/i] trying to pound you into the dirt over time.

[happy]

Phoebe is not as nice as you'd think.
especially on ironman.

you do have time, but when she strikes, you are probably in a routine, and since you had time to build, your wealth can be too high for your colonists to be able to deal with the ennemy.

I say routine, and it's important, she will catch you unaware, and , unlike rougher modes where you are always on your toes, you are likely to brainfart, cause, well, fighting 17 tribals when all you did is sow and build for an hour is always and unpleasant change of priorities.

cassandra has a difficulty curve and you know that if you face 2 tribals, the next attack will be 5 tribals or 3 raiders.

in phoebe, you meet 2 tribals, and the next raid can , and will be 13 sappers.

[Immortalits]

In my richest colony I only get mechs quite ofthen, but they are small in number due to their baseline high powerlvl, and I get the other extreme with 50-60 men tribal raids, but I can handle everything prety well with only 10 people and 5heavy combat animal (I have thrumbos, but even megasloths would serve well as meatshields if you don't make yourself start with trumbos, or in different biomes, you can get rinoceros and elephant too, which are kinda the same meatshields as thrumbos, but in recent mech attacks I haven't even used my thrumbos, just my pawns to deal with ~15 mechanoids half of them being centipedes.

[Immortalits]

Originally posted by happy:

Phoebe is not as nice as you'd think.
especially on ironman.

you do have time, but when she strikes, you are probably in a routine, and since you had time to build, your wealth can be too high for your colonists to be able to deal with the ennemy.

I say routine, and it's important, she will catch you unaware, and , unlike rougher modes where you are always on your toes, you are likely to brainfart, cause, well, fighting 17 tribals when all you did is sow and build for an hour is always and unpleasant change of priorities.

cassandra has a difficulty curve and you know that if you face 2 tribals, the next attack will be 5 tribals or 3 raiders.

in phoebe, you meet 2 tribals, and the next raid can , and will be 13 sappers.

true, so so true :)
I have forcefully stopped my colony growth to be honest in my above mentioned colony, when I've noticed, that even thrumbo passes are stronger... now i try to keep my wealth at the lvl of 3-4 thrumbos to pass each time (I have a 2 month forced thrumbo pass too, so I can check things relatively ofthen), so I have managed to keep a ~15 mecha or 50-60 tribal attacker count, that I can still handle... the biggest attacker power jump came after the grand golden statue... might not have been a good idea, but I like to have a lot of wealthy statues and luxury for my pawns :P
(that duff jump was from 1 thrumbo to 3... raid before was about 5 scyters, raid after were 7 centipedes and 2 or 3 scyters), that was where I stopped or moderated my wealth, but the thrumbos are just keep coming and my horn stock is increasing... now at 23, wonder what would happen if I get to 60+ horns and get a raid :D )

[Astasia]

Phoebe is usually the most difficult storyteller for a couple reasons. The first was mentioned by happy, Phoebe's large gaps between raids means those raids will spike in difficulty and you will often not be prepared. The second reason Phoebe is a really difficult storyteller is that raids are vital to survival and provide you with the guns and armor needed to protect yourself early on, not to mention meat and skins from manhunters and humanoid butchering. So not only will you have large spikes in difficulty between raids, but you wont have the gear required to protect yourself from the larger raids.

Casandra gives more than enough time to recover between raids and a gradual dificulty increase that allows you to gear up progressively.

Phoebe can be a bit more relaxing to play once you have a solid grasp of the game and an understanding of how wealth impacts raid size, and passive defensive strategies. If you always know how hard she is going to hit, and know how to defend with few if any geared pawns, then she's not that bad. The lack of raids does mean less loot though, which will always make her more difficult.

[ignis]

Cassandra kicks you at regual basis with gradually increasing strength, and you will be used to it quickly, sometimes pets you too.

Phoebe mostly pets you, but when the mood hits her, she will hit you hard when you are not ready.

Randy just flips a coin when he wants to do something with you.

[Bonusgold]

"phoebe more of an annyoance" - tell that to this event chain:

Cold Snap in Summer, - right as you regrow -Volcanic Winter + Fallout/Acid Rain

[elipod]

Originally posted by ignisru:

Cassandra kicks you at regual basis with gradually increasing strength, and you will be used to it quickly, sometimes pets you too.

Phoebe mostly pets you, but when the mood hits her, she will hit you hard when you are not ready.

Randy just flips a coin when he wants to do something with you.

That makes Randy easier than Cassandra if you're doing good, (not sure about Phoebe). She does constantly punish you for not taking damage to wealth and population, and then drops difficulty, after she managed to deal damage.

[Jagothegamer]

Originally posted by elipod:

That makes Randy easier than Cassandra if you're doing good, (not sure about Phoebe). She does constantly punish you for not taking damage to wealth and population, and then drops difficulty, after she managed to deal damage.

Trust me when I say, Randy is NOT easier than Cassandra. The last colony I lost slowly went to hell cuz he trew two raids at me at the same time with quite a few people in each party. They kidnapped my doctor, and prevented me from hunting for food, so my colonists were starving. This led to multiple mental breaks, until eventually he decided he would have one of my power conduits explode, wich started a fire which could not be stopped. Only two of my three colonists could try to put out the fire, as my last one was in a daze, walking around. Those two colonists both burned in the fire, and so did my last one after she came out of her state. I didn't even try to stop her due to shock and a bit of anger. Randy isn't easier at all, becasue of his randomness.

[elipod]

That's why I said "if you're doing good", if you had enough power or ace in the sleeve to repell that hard attack without losses, Randy would be less likely to follow with another Big one, than Cassanra. Cassandra throws more crap against big healthy colony on average. Randy won't hesitate to wreck starting or crippled colonies. First year or two can, indeed, be harder with Randy.
Also, his event combos, not all stack well together. I had tribal raid, pirate raid and chunk of AI ship all fighting with each other, and nobody, reached my walls that day.