Expert 100k+

[Ginner]

I don't think I'm that bad of a player as I have about 20 hours in the game, but
on expert level the AI players will routinely get between 80k and 120k where if I play
pretty much perfectly only get 24k to 50k. Also, they have as many or more upgrades than me.

Anybody else able to win on expert level? I quit just into the snow terrain as I had about 80k
and the other players werre all in the mid to upper 200k range.

[Mr.M]

Expert is hard but not impossible.

Have a campaign right now that i have stopped weeks ago - im about half way through the desert and got 200k - the AI's 40-60k.

Guess i should be able to reach the 1kk easily, the only question is if i can also become mayor;

[Delle(DK)]

To comment on the "expert" level being to hard.

Well i have now tried starting several new games, and 1 time out of 10 I am able to earn more money than the AI and often the AI earn like 3-4 times more than me.
And i did gave up after drilling for oil 4-5 times later.. I never reach the other "maps" since i give up.
I think the expert level is a bit unbalanced.

[Mr.M]

I dont have problems in the first 2 levels, as stated above.

But the AI gets totally op as soon as they can use gas...

[Storm0267]

yes the AI does get over powered, and not to mention they hog the big plots sadly. as soon as one is found they are all used up too quickly

[jiihoo]

My experience is that the AI gets oil sold for above 3$ average after natural gas is in the picture. So if land has 50 oil rating -> 150k profit. That is quite impossible for a human player because at level start you have to sell oil cheaper to get things rolling. And to get to 3$ you have got to get things going perfectly. That is, to have big gas pockets (or grow them through heating), to have a high oil price to begin with and to have enough fully developed carts to sell oil really fast when the price is highest.

I too have won the game on expert, it is not impossible, but it is quite unbalaced compared to what really could be possible for a normal player (human or AI) who really plays levels.

[Storm0267]

basically its rigged for the AI

[Gamious]

We don't want to sound like smartasses, but it is quite possible to beat expert mode. One of the things that might be a bit overlooked is the importance of getting the best pieces of land, with Anthony. It of course also helps to pick the best characters.

Or maybe it's just that we grew up in the eighties, when games were a bit harder. ;-)

EDIT: Anthony of course. There is no Jonathan ;)

[Storm0267]

Anthony is not perfect like he should be

[Gamious]

Anthony is not perfect indeed. He always picks one of the three best remaining spots. If there are not many (good) spots left on the map, putting Anthony to work can be a bit of a waste. He is best used at the start of a new part of the map.

[Cougarific]

Originally posted by MrMonokel2000:

Have a campaign right now that i have stopped weeks ago

I, like others posting in this thread, also gave up halfway through my Expert campaign - I believe this is something the Devs should think about a bit more before final release.

The second half of the Expert campaign basically feels like you're playing a whole different game - for better or worse. Some may say that adds replayability and complexity. To me it feels like we're suddenly given a whole new game to play - which again, some may see as bonus content, I get that - the problem is, we're thrown into it no real training or insight into how we're supposed to proceed.

You can fairly easily waltz through the Normal campaign, and the first half of the Expert campaign, without ever using the hardcore gas-to-surge-prices-in-November "strategy".

Now suddenly, you *have to* use it if you want to compete with the A.I. players. It's like the game says "Throw out 80% of everything you learned playing this game so far. Now, **this** is the game. Learn how to do it like **this**, or you will fail."

And again, to each his own - if you enjoy this hardcore "strategy", great! Personally, I do not.

Perhaps if we were given more incentive to pursue this strategy earlier in the game, it would come as less of a surprise. But I'm not even going to advocate for that because I find the entire "strategy" both overly complicated and repetitive.

There has to be a better way to ramp up the level of difficulty without throwing this previously-unnecessary approach into the works. IMHO just get rid of the whole Left Link/Right Link idea, or save it for another game mode where every map has gas pockets and you can actually get better at doing it before being thrown into the deep end.

Originally posted by Gamious Dev:

We don't want to sound like smartasses, but...

Or maybe it's just that we grew up in the eighties, when games were a bit harder. ;-)

Please don't be like that. Be kind and generous to the people who bought your game, don't tease them. If people are getting frustrated at exactly the same point in the game, maybe it's not the gamers, maybe it's the game.

[Gamious]

@Cougarific, thank you for your feedback. The remark about us being smartasses was meant as a joke. We understand that Expert Mode is difficult to beat, and it has always been a dilemma for us to find the right balance.

We suspect that if we make it easier, a different group of players will also voice their complaints, that it is too easy. We have given it thought to create three instead of two difficulty degrees, but that felt too much like 'air' content to us. In the end, we went by our gut feeling, and with what we we able to achieve ourselves. For instance: it is possible to beat Expert Mode without using any gas upgrades at all. We have also beaten it by having 100% of the stocks, and almost half a million in cash in the bank at the end of the campaign (pre bonus level).

About using gas in general: one of the biggest takeaways from the Early Access period was that people got bored after a while. That is when we came up with the gas mechanics. And it's not just that we did it because people wanted more depth, it's also because we like the mechanic ourselves a lot. But we hope you understand that it's hard to come up with something that everyone will enjoy equally as much.

[fredoverflow]

Originally posted by Cougarific:

the problem is, we're thrown into it no real training or insight into how we're supposed to proceed.

Did you read Mayor's Tips? They explain everything you need to know with nice pictures.

[Cougarific]

I did not actually, thanks for the heads-up!