Difficulty of the game

[P4p3Rc1iP]

It's 3AM for us here in the Netherlands and I'm going to bed now, but before that I want to ask this question so there are a good amount of responses tomorrow morning:

Convoy has been out for about 12 hours now, which means a lot of people have had the chance to play it. So far around 2.5% of the players have managed to complete the game at least once. We expect this number to go up over time, however it does seem a little low. Some people also feel that the game is too difficult, or that some scenarios feel unfair. Others seem to find the overall difficulty just right.

So what we want to know is the following:

• How do you feel about the difficulty of the game in general?
  
• And what about combat specifically?
  
• And how about the scenarios? Do they feel "fair"? Do you feel like you "win" as much as you "lose"?
  
• What do you enjoy the most in the game?
  
• What do you dislike the most in the game?

We would really appreciate your feedback so we can work on improving the game in future updates.

[Actrazor]

Summary (Because lets face it, we're lazy and don't want to read all the nonsense below)
The dialog system takes away from the fun with it's sub par RNG system.
The majority of the game is fun, fairly balanced, needing a little more difficulty overall.
Vehicles are to valuable and need to be more expendable.
The end boss's minions are to strong and are vastly more dangerous than the boss himself.
Finally, The game is great, very enjoyable, just in need of some fine tuning, and maybe a oil change and new oil fitler for that dirty greasy dialog system. And when I say greasy, I mean Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys "Greheheasy".

Thus far after playing it most of the day, and about a dozen or so attempts, I have yet to beat the game once. Which for me is surprising, I'm a long time veteran of FTL, I understand the concept of all it's content, from weapons, to combat tactics to dialog events, but for the life of me no matter how many times I come up against the last boss, I can't seem to beat him, his little hover craft buddies fly in mid fight and just beat my face in before I can even down one of them, namely because the first 2 striped all my MCVs armor. so the second wave of them just eats the MCV super fast, and I'm doing all I can to distract them and preventing the MCV from taking any damage during the fight, when those hover bastards aren't around the boss it'self is stupid easy. I don't know, the rest of the game is alright, a few failures here n there, maybe that part could be more difficult, but the end boss sure seems over powered thanks to super powerful minions.

The combat is pretty decent, the AI is of course beond stupid, no shocker there, very few games have intelligent AI, but thats ok, Smarter AI in this would be brutal. I think the biggest problem with combat is every vehicle you own is so damn crucial, lossing even one is very crippling, it like having a limb cut off your body, sure you still can fight on, but you really hurt and lost a ton of resources investing in them. Perhappes having vehicles be more expendable and avaible to obtain would obstain this issue, make it so they die easier but easier to get new ones and cheaper to upgrade. My last run, not a single vehicle was available at any shop (Only a couple camps were even on the map) and every event that can give you a vehicle by chance did not give any, So I ended up fighting the boss with my two starter cars only, and of course, I totally failed. But man those two cars were pimped out, with high power subs, hydralics, even the fuzzy dice (Because everyone wants fuzzy dice), they wrecked everything just the two of em.

The dialog I have to agree with most on, leaves a lot to be desired, it's so wishy washy with its RNG you feel like either your a high risk gambler constantly or play it super safe and miss out on so much, and setting up your own ambush almost NEVER works, 90% of the time the ambush back fires on you. Apparently a buch of ragtag raiders n pirates are more tactically inclined than your military outfit. Weather this engine is capable of doing anything really more spectacular or not is a issue, sadly we may just be stuck with a system that hurts more than it helps, cause as it sits, I do not like or enjoy the current dialog options/functionality.

I do however like how most of the game works, it has a good feel to it, it has a lot of small annoying flaws and even some bugs like the end boss attacking you as soon as you start a new game having just died to him. Overall though the game is fun, undeniably, it is hardish, could be harder imo but you can't be lazy ever, hell I've lost several vehicles to rock faces because I didn't pay enough attention to the fight. I do like this and am happy that I bought it, it's a great alternative to FTL when you get fustrated with never being able to get a single weapon on your ship after the entire run (Good lord how do we even some times make it to the last sector with only the starter weapons?.)lol.

[SeductiveLobster]

Either nerf the hovercraft on boss stage, or make them appear only at the begginig of the fight. They are way too strong if you ask me.

[Streamingfox]

I have played now a couple of hours with the newest patch and had really luck, dont know the vehicle but i got an tank-like vehicle near the start in an event and for long its a beast, the only problem i had, that the enemies focused my main vehicle and no way i'm able to defend it. Tryd to block the enemies line of sight but nothing helped. But in all it was fun. :)

But i like to ask, have someone tested the shops? I bought an vehicle on a shop and after, i think 2 hours, playing the shop has not restocked anything. If the shops dont restock on weapons or vehicle they are really degraded as refuel&repair posts because if they dont get new things why we should visit it again? :(

[Usagi]

I've been playing more (still on easy). The aparentchanges have been good, I think. Combat doesn't feel like something to dread as you never come out of it with any benefit anymore.

The boggest problem now is when you start getting later on and combat sees 5+ attackers. The numbers aren't directly the problem, but the problem is that all enemies seem to prioritize attacking the main vehicle, at all times, if they can see it. when you are sorely outnumbered, you can't prevent it. In many cases, it takes 2-3 of your own cars jsut to block one of theirs. That means 4-5 are just constantly directly attacking the main vehicle...and it goes down way too fast. Armor is a joke, and even with upgraded health, some things seems to do so much damage is scary. If there was some mechanic that kept the main vehicle from being immediatly dogpiled 100% of the time, that would be more itnereting. Like, a vehigcle won't attack the main vehicle unless it attacks them or something. probabaly some other triggers too. But immediate focus fire on the main vehicle all the time is very frustrating.

[Ozymandias]

I agree that the hardest part of the game is not, in fact, the combat. The hardest part is managing damage correctly. Perhaps on easy mode spawn a few more camps or make purchasable repair kits or something. Imo, easy is in fact easy; however, because of the different difficulty settings it is possible to make easy easier (maybe disable achievements or something) while maintaining a hard hard mode. It is a fact that the hardest part of the game is the very begging when you only have two buggies, once you have more vehicles it becomes alot easier to manage the damage.

A feature I would like to see implemented in the future would be "auto-fire," a option that tells vehicles to fire at the nearest enemy in range unless directed otherwise. I think this would help novices (and adepts alike) maintain higher efficiency while reducing the amount of micromanagement.

Also, would like to mention that I have not completed the game. On my second playthrough I came very close; however, a third playthrough is not possible due to a BUG i have encountered that was supposedly fixed during the last patch (boss instagibbing). Bugs may be a contributing factor as to why the completion is low? Can you see the average play time? Idk.

Favorite thing: Art style, pretty solid execution overall

Least favorite thing: BUGS, and maybe a overall lack of variety

I mean, in FTL, there was a massive variety among races and that isn't really present here.

Cheers!

[Sohei]

The difficulty when just starting out is a bit high. Some kind of ramping up would be nice. There are clues sometimes to suggest difficulty for some encounters but other times you get a random fight that is pretty rough right at the start.

The cultural references are overdone in my opinion and those that are related to a potential negative outcome are annoying if you do not know the reference. Even those many references that I did recognize did not really add anything enjoyable to the game. They were just kind of there and got neither a smile nor a frown.

The scenarios where you lose a vehicle do not feel fair, even if I made a bad decision. The investment period in a vehicle is long and recovery by both finding and upgrading a replacement is difficult. This makes the game less fun because you need to avoid the main quests and boss fights when down a vehicle or two and instead wander around for a long time searching for a new vehicle and equipment in order to maximize odds of success. That is a reasonable cost I guess, but it simply isn't fun to play. Starting over would be easier at that point because there are a only a few vehicles that can be found. 90% damage would be okay for a dialog event and losing a vehicle in a relatively fair battle would be okay.

I like the battles overall and I like the open world travel. I don't like the long grind avoiding main quests in order to survive.

[TheAngryBeard]

So as of 1.02 now some of the events which used to kill your vehicles barely do anything at all, which may be related to shields? Not quite sure. Moreover, a lot of them still read "one of your cars blows up!" when you're only taking damage. I realize going through and changing them again, this time for the text, is probably gonna be a pain: but it should probably be a priority for a few patches from now to line up descriptions with what's actually happening.

Also, I say this being aware of what most of the vehicular insta-kill events are (or used to be), as well as someone who enjoys a good gut punch every once in a while from a rogue-like: don't strip too many of them away! Instances where it is explicitly stated that one of your vehicles is at risk, or where you're about to do something crazy, should have consequences. Obviously there needs to be a good balance to make it feel at least somewhat fair, but without that ultimate risk present the desert kind of loses some of its bite.

As far as combat goes, there's just something off about armor in the lategame. Obviously concentrated fire on the MCV is why it always gets stripped so fast, but it gets to the point where after every single fight you need to go back to a town just to fix up all the armor you just lost. It makes sense that later enemies have lots of armor piercing, but it's a bit ridiculous when the two Keepers in the boss fight just instantly strip over 50% of your armor. I don't know how you could even start to balance this, because obviously if you make ArPen less prevalent then it makes buying armor upgrades much more valuable... but as it stands it feels like it's really only an early/midgame stat?

As for what I most like/dislike: I definitely like the ideas behind the boss and miniboss fights. A big enemy in front of you, supported by their own protective units— despite my aforementioned problems with late-game combat, those fights definitely stand out in the game. Although, some fights definitely feel more rewarding than others... Anyway, I think my least favourite thing so far is... well, not ALL the writing, but parts of it. I don't have a problem with the pop culture references, but some instances are shoved in so forcefully that there's just no joy to them.

[Nordak Balrem]

The painful ones were the randoms with no notice. Especially the safe and mine, currently the events generally strip 60% of armor and 20% health as of my last playthrough. Though I still have run into instagibs for these same events with unupgraded vehicles at the start of a run.

I did notice a few you will lose a ship, but now there are options to avoid instant loss now.

[ワイバーン の とし]

Publicado originalmente por Nordak Balrem ESQ:

The painful ones were the randoms with no notice. Especially the safe and mine, currently the events generally strip 60% of armor and 20% health as of my last playthrough. Though I still have run into instagibs for these same events with unupgraded vehicles at the start of a run.

I did notice a few you will lose a ship, but now there are options to avoid instant loss now.

Code to safe is 5738

[MPO]

Sp0ilarz

[Nordak Balrem]

Not that part, the instagib for a squishy starting vehicle unupgraded with armor or health. Thanks, however, I already had the safe combination wrote down.

[Duke Nukem]

Personally I did 2 runs. First run on easy with my only knowledge is watching a stream off and on (I have 2 monitors and was playing a different game while he was streaming it) and I got screwed at some point letting my MVC die.
The second run took me maybe a hour and a half? 2 hours? I streamed it and I sadly lost 2 of my cars to mountains.... yes I unknowingly sacraficed my 2 vehicles... and I still won the game. The two vehicles made me want to rage quit throughout the play through but I stuck it out due to streaming and well... came out with a win.
So with that being said from my personal standpoint it is a great game, I can see where luck can screw you over, but in the end I think its a great build and great game. I have a highlight of the game if anyone wish's but I would post it elsewhere.

[wolf]

hi there,
I played some hours now during some days....

After not having survived more than 2 or 3 fights in normal mode I only played on easy afterwards.
Still it seems to be very difficult to make any progress. Mostly it seems that the enemies are too strong. Most of the fights I hardly survive. If even reaching the next camp - most of the time I don't even get there because even more enemies occur within the random events - I need nearly all my ressources for repairing.

I got 2 good games in the meantime having 4 vehicles, 2 of them seemed to be quite good. Could not continue due to a bug of continuing a game :(

The game is compared with FTL: not sure about that.
What I like is the possibility of strategy: invest in armour or in weapon range of my vehicles? Do I attack one enemy at a time or all enemies in parallel.

What I don't like: too less information about the weapons and what they really do. How to make a good fight If not knowing how the weapons work? FTL did a much better job here.
The second and most important thing is: losing the game happens much to often. having no progress after the 10th playthrough is frustrating. I did not even finish one of the main targets so far. I only had some unfair bosses with 4 waves of enemies, having 4-6 vehicles.....

I think the game balance really should be overworked, at least for the easy mode.

But still: it's a great game, it only needs some fine tuning :)

[A Fish]

How do you feel about the difficulty of the game in general?

In general, I feel that you just cranked up the scrap earned a smidge too high, I'm almost never short on cash on easy mode.

And what about combat specifically?

I think there should be more options to "capture other vehicles, but repair should be more expensive, or maybe melee should do more damage? or just ignore armor?

I dunno, I do know that by about a third of the way through I was steamrollin' err'body soo hard mayne...

I just want to lose more vehicles, and have more new vehicle interactions, while still making it an epic loss if you lose a vehicle.

I think that the differences between weapons could be magnified, maybe mostly with armor and anti-armor weapons. maybe a timer or some graphic display to tell you when what weapon will be firing?

And how about the scenarios? Do they feel "fair"? Do you feel like you "win" as much as you "lose"?

personally, I think they're great, but could use more variety. I feel like I win more than I lose, but that was only after a few quick loses finding out how to play out certain situations.

What do you enjoy the most in the game?

The exploration! there should be more secrets and easter eggs and more content to liven that up a bit! maybe a no-end option for the game? maybe you gotta protect your space ship at times? and you can lose it? which only means its now become an un-ending, infinitely progressing/procedural world? with the ability to have larger convoys?

What do you dislike the most in the game?

it was a bit short, but good, if thats how you intended it. although, as mentioned before, some higher-content, deeper plotlines, maybe some procedural infinite world option? maybe some interaction with the planet?

Hope this helps!

[MPO]

That's it, I'm gonna buy this game and help too.