Grave Robbers...

[FateWeaver]

So after having died continually for three straight real life, iron man, days to goblins, ghouls, and bandits, on Challenging, I figured I got lucky when I finally surprised real human grave robbers for once instead of ghouls, they even begged for their life! Well jokes on me, because they were all freaking raiders in military quality gear, and they are all hardened badasses compared to my ragtag group of peasants... Of course I got slaughtered, or rather will get slaughtered, as I am writing this post to the tune of my impending doom as half my men are already dead... So I have a question, what the Hell!? I have not been this frustrated since I brute forced Splaterhouse 1-2! Grave robbers are usually the weakest, most pathetic thugs you can find, in real life and in other fiction, they are robbing the dead for crying out loud! Even the grave diggers, and grave robbers you can hire yourself comfirm that, both in stats and equipment! So why on Earth are the enemy grave robbers so well equipped, and experienced that they look like they just got out of a lord's army!? There is one single thug with rags, and a cleaver amongst their number, he is what I would expect of a grave robber. :S
At any rate I am exhausted and am completely tapped out... I can't get my foot in the door in this update. Before the goblin patch I was able to level up a band of brothers on Deadly difficulty no problem, but for some reason this patch is savaging me! I usually die on the 1-2 battle after the Weasel, to overwhelming numbers usually in the form of ghouls, and or well equipped bandits and goblins...
Now I may just suck completely and I am sure some smartass will point that out, but honestly what the Hell is going on? This game wasn't half this impossible for a newbie starting out when it first launched on Early Access, like at all... Two straight real life days of continual restarts is not fun or reasonable! I get that you should listen to those in the community who are the most experienced for feedback, but honestly you should listen to those of us on the other end of the spectrum as well! This game's difficulty has been dialed up to eleven since last time I played it! It may be a tactical elitist's paradise right now, but for the rest of us this game is Hell! ><
And a wise man once said choose your battles wisely, well I can't even do that this update as all the battles after the Weasel have been impossible to scout before hand... Leaving me with no idea what I will face, like in the grave robber scenario... - -
*sigh* I am taking a break, I play video games to have fun, get challenged and relax, not to make me feel like I am back in school being bullied or getting beaten up by my father again... :(

[Boss of this gym]

The problem here is I believe the majority don't do Iron man runs, they reload their games if they loose and try again, the game is hard, sure. But you have to admit, you are looking for that hardcore experience if you play Iron man.

I haven't tried it out yet, but I'm going to stop save scumming next game and see how it goes, I expect lots of rage as well, wish me luck.

[Lampros]

I really really don't think this game was meant to be played ironman - or else it would be an in-game option? Even if that is encouraged, you shouldn't do it right after a new major update. At least learn how the new stuff works first.

[deadskinmask22]

ironman is going to be a very hard thing untill the full release when evrything in paned out. as of now there is a lot of things to add, and tweakes to make. so dont get to frustrated. i dont play iron man. untill the full release or something close to it, im going to just keep testing things and see what i can do.

[Sarissofoi]

Its going be hard mostly because most of the time vital information is unkown.
Like recently some mercenaries stop me and try to take cargo delivery and I dont even know(before battle) how many of them I gonna fight.
I dont mind hard contracts being avaialable or enemy forces being strong but i want to know before fight ot taking contract so I can decide if i can do it or better to pass on it.
Its the same with recruiting mercenaries or stats rolls.
I dont know their stats or even their growth potential with make planning easily skewed by random dice roll.

[FireShark]

Isn't there a way to improve your scouting? How do you actually do it? I never noticed any bonus from wardogs which is disappointing.

[Wyrtt]

finaly. I thought its only me. After this update i cant survive for few days. Contracts give you 30-80 gold for dilivery that cost you 100 only in food.
Contracts to kill grave robbers in military gear offer 200-300 gold which will not cover repair cost let alone any deaths.
And lets be real. Whats the point to play this game not on ironman? Reload untill you get lucky? Thats not a gameplay thats a press x to win. If im supposed to run around and reload untill i find easy contract than im out untill further updates.

[ramza]

this game aint made for iron man unless your some kinda masochist

[Sheytanaslan]

I dont play iron man and reloaded a few fights because I went in not knowing what I faced. I have since decided I wont do that and lost 2 of my starting group. Havnt lost a companion yet though since I decided I wont reload. Will see how it plays out. No question though that the game can be punishing and make you get frusterated at times.

[76561188078797539]

I have to agree that it feels like the recent update made the early game even more difficult.

There are few comparable enemies to fight, so you have to either keep running around contract-shopping, or pray to RNGesus that a small band of orc youths or a few direwolves spawn nearby (and won't decimate your party anyway).

Not sure whether the caravan guarding contracts were pulled or I just haven't run into one of them in the last two days of playing, but the start of the game sure was a PITA.

Also agree that grave robbers should not be "raiders." We even have a recruitable graverobber character, and they certainly do not inspire confidence with their stats...

All in all, it feels like the game could use a lot more puny opponent spawns, especially early on.

Afterthought edit: More Bandit Thugs. Early Direwolves party spawning with one one-two actual direwolf, and regular "wolves" as filler (i.e. personalized wolf-pack for each monster). Smaller ghoul/weiderganger/skeleton group encounters early on, etc.

[Overhype Studios]

We are looking closely at the enemy compositions especially in the early game. Expect some adjusting changes to come. The balancing will be a priority for us until the full release but we are doing our best to prevent difficulty spikes.

[Off-Suit Nines]

You should officially change the name of the Goblin daggers to 'Difficulty Spikes'. It would be glorious, and hilarious, and accurate. You can't argue with a trinity of goodness like that.

[FateWeaver]

Originally posted by Khorne Berserker:

The problem here is I believe the majority don't do Iron man runs, they reload their games if they loose and try again, the game is hard, sure. But you have to admit, you are looking for that hardcore experience if you play Iron man.

I haven't tried it out yet, but I'm going to stop save scumming next game and see how it goes, I expect lots of rage as well, wish me luck.

Well, I wish you good luck, mate. Hopefully you will fare better than I did.

Originally posted by Lampros:

I really really don't think this game was meant to be played ironman - or else it would be an in-game option? Even if that is encouraged, you shouldn't do it right after a new major update. At least learn how the new stuff works first.

Yeah, I know, I just wanted to play as a bunch of normal flesh and blood mercenaries, and not some all knowing oracle with the blessing of save game hindsight. :P

Originally posted by deadskinmask22:

ironman is going to be a very hard thing untill the full release when evrything in paned out. as of now there is a lot of things to add, and tweakes to make. so dont get to frustrated. i dont play iron man. untill the full release or something close to it, im going to just keep testing things and see what i can do.

Yeah, I should probably admit defeat at this point and play like everyone else.

Originally posted by Sarissofoi:

Its going be hard mostly because most of the time vital information is unkown.
Like recently some mercenaries stop me and try to take cargo delivery and I dont even know(before battle) how many of them I gonna fight.
I dont mind hard contracts being avaialable or enemy forces being strong but i want to know before fight ot taking contract so I can decide if i can do it or better to pass on it.
Its the same with recruiting mercenaries or stats rolls.
I dont know their stats or even their growth potential with make planning easily skewed by random dice roll.

Ain't that the truth, wading into the unknown like that is hard, if not an outright death sentence most of the time. If I just knew what I was getting into beforehand, I could at least decide if the job was worth the risk. And yeah, I am not happy about the leveling system either, to be honest I kinda wish it was something more akin to Skyrim or something like that, where your men get better through practice as well as through levels. Would have been nice if we could train our men in some way, by say having the more experienced men offer lessons to those with lower stats.

Originally posted by inrptn:

Isn't there a way to improve your scouting? How do you actually do it? I never noticed any bonus from wardogs which is disappointing.

No idea, would be nice if there was a way. Would be cool if wardogs, poachers and hunters were good at tracking and scouting.

Originally posted by Wyrtt:

finaly. I thought its only me. After this update i cant survive for few days. Contracts give you 30-80 gold for dilivery that cost you 100 only in food.
Contracts to kill grave robbers in military gear offer 200-300 gold which will not cover repair cost let alone any deaths.
And lets be real. Whats the point to play this game not on ironman? Reload untill you get lucky? Thats not a gameplay thats a press x to win. If im supposed to run around and reload untill i find easy contract than im out untill further updates.

He he, you are not alone comrade. ^^
And I agree whole heartedly with you.

Originally posted by ramza:

this game aint made for iron man unless your some kinda masochist

Considering my two previous girlfriends, one being a sadist who liked to hurt me, and the other a complete psychopath who also liked to hurt me, you might be onto something there. Gods... I need help... XD

Originally posted by Sheytanaslan:

I dont play iron man and reloaded a few fights because I went in not knowing what I faced. I have since decided I wont do that and lost 2 of my starting group. Havnt lost a companion yet though since I decided I wont reload. Will see how it plays out. No question though that the game can be punishing and make you get frusterated at times.

Yeah, well I wish you good luck in that endevour, hopefully more than I had.

Originally posted by Sheepify:

I have to agree that it feels like the recent update made the early game even more difficult.

There are few comparable enemies to fight, so you have to either keep running around contract-shopping, or pray to RNGesus that a small band of orc youths or a few direwolves spawn nearby (and won't decimate your party anyway).

Not sure whether the caravan guarding contracts were pulled or I just haven't run into one of them in the last two days of playing, but the start of the game sure was a PITA.

Also agree that grave robbers should not be "raiders." We even have a recruitable graverobber character, and they certainly do not inspire confidence with their stats...

All in all, it feels like the game could use a lot more puny opponent spawns, especially early on.

Afterthought edit: More Bandit Thugs. Early Direwolves party spawning with one one-two actual direwolf, and regular "wolves" as filler (i.e. personalized wolf-pack for each monster). Smaller ghoul/weiderganger/skeleton group encounters early on, etc.

Well so far I have been really unlucky, only found one band of thugs that were on my level, the other band of thugs shot my men to death from afar with bows, everything else has been raiders in full decked out battle atire and weaponry, overwhelming number of ghouls, wiedergängers in the same gear as the raiders, goblin wolf riders, this has just been a mess for me... :S

I have not run into any caravan protection gigs either. :/

But you know who are worth recruiting over grave robbers? Grave diggers! The unsung heroes of society, without them our society would surely crumble as we are flooded in corpses, and in a world with undead roaming the countryside, that would be a very bad thing indeed. :P

And yeah, the game really needs more early rabble enemies.

Originally posted by Daedalus:

You should officially change the name of the Goblin daggers to 'Difficulty Spikes'. It would be glorious, and hilarious, and accurate. You can't argue with a trinity of goodness like that.

Oh that would be glorious, I would be very amused. :3

[FateWeaver]

Originally posted by Overhype Studios:

We are looking closely at the enemy compositions especially in the early game. Expect some adjusting changes to come. The balancing will be a priority for us until the full release but we are doing our best to prevent difficulty spikes.

Looking forward to it, the world map update is really quite beautiful, good job on that. ^^
But the early game difficulty is very rough currently. Either I am just extremely unlucky, and getting all the difficult job rolls, or you might have dialed the village jobs a bit too high... :/

[FateWeaver]

Originally posted by FateWeaver:

Originally posted by Overhype Studios:

We are looking closely at the enemy compositions especially in the early game. Expect some adjusting changes to come. The balancing will be a priority for us until the full release but we are doing our best to prevent difficulty spikes.

Looking forward to it, the world map update is really quite beautiful, good job on that. ^^
But the early game difficulty is very rough currently. Either I am just extremely unlucky, and getting all the difficult job rolls, or you might have dialed the village jobs a bit too high... :/

I don't know what was in that latest extremely small update, but I guess it was some balance passes? For things feel a lot smoother, and more fun now. I am actually enjoying myself. ^^
So thank you. :)

[smakemupagus]

I don't save and load this game, not that I'm any kind of expert. Just putting out a data point that not everyone plays that way.