Good difficulty setting combo?

[Liminullity]

So I just picked this up in the summer sale; I've had my eye on it for a while.

Looking at some guides and videos about the game, I have conflicting info about difficulty settings. I had planned to start on veteran/veteran (despite the game's protests), but some people, including FilthyRobot's guides on YouTube, seem to recommend beginner/expert for learning the intricacies of the game and the most satisfying experience overall.

I'm not afraid of difficulty, but I'm curious what people's experiences have been and if veteran combat becomes too easy later on. What are peoples experiences with how difficulty affects the game long-term? Also, do the higher economic difficulties really limit your ability to explore?

Thanks for any input you can offer!

[Caledor]

Well the most importent question is: How much will setbacks affect you?
When you start on veteran you will loose fights you thing are very unfair. And they are...
A lot comes from expierience and to know which fights you can take.

When you like too learn from loosing, play on veteran and learn everytime you loose something new.
When you hate this, play on beginner, reloud and learn the enemys. After you have enough expierence try the harder difficulites.

It is a question of your character not the difficulty. It is single player. Play like you enjoy the most.

[Hairy Coo]

I'd say start on beginner, economy veteran and high funds, learn all the enemies, basic tactics and build ideas. veteran/veteran/medium is a good middle ground once you have an idea how to play it.

[Liminullity]

Yeah I'm know the usual idea is to play on an easier difficulty, and work up until you find something "comfortable." But there is something to be said for jumping in the deep end as well.

Specifically, it seems the argument for starting on expert combat is to understand what the game will throw at you and avoid building bad habits, assuming your intention is to play on expert eventually anyway.

I guess that's why I was wondering what more experienced players thought about these settings for the purposes of learning the game, specifically if there's difficulty falloff later in veteran.

[msunavygrad]

Don't start on Expert. The key to this game is understanding how to match up with the various enemies, and more often than not the first encounter with a new type will not go well.

It is not that the game is unfair, it is more that each mob fights differently and requires a different mindset to counter the enemy strengths. One size fits all tactics will lead to extra losses and frustration.

I would recommend Beginner difficulty with High starting funds. This will allow you to ease into fighting the various groups and give you enough cash to survive the early game with some reasonable starting equipment.

Play for 50 days or so, or complete a Crisis and then revisit changes when you have a better grasp of what you are up against.

[Bird]

Personally I find harder economic difficulties to be just annoying. It's too much worrying about chipped paint on my guys' swords and it becomes too expensive to explore because well, it's hard to afford food. I like exploring though and I don't ever want to be held back from that aspect of the game because what if I can't pay for sandwiches?

[Hairy Coo]

Originally posted by Empitaph:

Yeah I'm know the usual idea is to play on an easier difficulty, and work up until you find something "comfortable." But there is something to be said for jumping in the deep end as well.

Specifically, it seems the argument for starting on expert combat is to understand what the game will throw at you and avoid building bad habits, assuming your intention is to play on expert eventually anyway.

I guess that's why I was wondering what more experienced players thought about these settings for the purposes of learning the game, specifically if there's difficulty falloff later in veteran.

BB is not designed for a single playthrough, and it works best with ironman on. It is roguelike at heart. So now if you play ironman, even beginner is not easy, don't be fooled by its name. And if you plan to play it roguelike style than you'll have fun doing beginner ironman, beating first crisis and then moving on to veteran and above.

[KnifingAvenger]

Expert/Expert/Low/Ironman. Since the beginning until the very end...

[Heron]

The game doesn't really have an easy mode. Even on beginner I can be challenged in the early game after 400 hours of playtime. So I'd recommend beginner for combat and beginner or veteran for economy with high starting funds (which won't be all that high, don't worry).

What I would also not recommend is to start with ironman as a new player unless you're after some entertaining losses in your first campaigns, which can be a good experience in it's own, but is not to everyone's taste. The game is balanced around avoiding certain fights unless you're the God of Gaming. You also want to prevent certain enemies from doing certain things. As a new player you can't know that and inevitably loose some campaigns until you find out. Manual saving is a way to circumvent that.

[Liminullity]

Okay, thanks everyone for your input. I have decided to set my Gamer Ego aside and after I do an initial learning session on beginner, I think vet/vet/high will be my next step.

Perhaps eventually I can make it up to the echelon of elite gamers like @KnifingAvenger here... but for now, basics.

[Heron]

Have fun!

[Liminullity]

Oh, yes, there will be Fun, I'm sure... :)

[Dimensional Traveler]

As one of the loading tips says, "Losing is fun."