Solo Military Spawns

[Rooter]

[edited again because I was right]
We’ve heard a lot of feedback from the scientific community regarding the difficulty (or inconsistent difficulty) of the Facility, particularly for solo players and co-op scientists who find themselves in a pinch while scavenging or exploring alone. We won’t reveal all of the tiny tweaks we’ve made, but entities in general will now react a bit differently when engaging a scientist who is alone, as opposed to fighting multiple scientists at once.

These changes are small, but have a large effect on combat pacing in general. All in all, you will find combat a bit less punishing if you’re by yourself, even in a co-operative server.

Additionally, we’ve adjusted the way enemies spawn around the Facility to result in a slightly less enemy-dense experience for solo players and smaller groups. Some specific spawns will no longer be used if there are less scientists in the game. Unlike the dynamic difficulty described above, this rule will be more global, so we still recommend scientists stick together – there’s safety in numbers!

[edited so I get less dumb replies]
My issue at this point, is not that "its so haaaard waaah" its that the game clearly pushes you (intentionally or not) into trying the area, which is total cancer solo.

THAT is my point. at first I was just a little peeved it was hard and exponentially more punishing for solo players, so much so that the rest of the game had been a cakewalk in comparison. If the level 2 keycard doors did not exist, I probably would not have even bothered.

.crane guy just says he will keep them distracted so you can go around, where you see a back entrance
.you unlock the level 2 security clearance in said area
.multiple level 2 doors visible from the back entrance before engaging soldiers
.nowhere else in the game at that point is there an area with enemies that you should not clear
.game was previously HARD gated by forcing you to kill multiple security bots just for level 1 clearance, implying higher levels are directly related to progression
.the games main focus completely till that point had LITERALLY been fight everything, even things you would just avoid otherwise (robots)
.there isnt anything good in there but you wouldnt know without clearing it so it doesnt matter, l2 clearance implies that there is, but its just worthless shortcuts
.my perspective is of someone who looked up as little as possible about the game, and has not watched any guides or playthroughs




https://imgur.com/a/WbMh64T

It cant stay like this. even cheesing with barricades and freeze bombs the absolute hordes you are expected to deal with are just insane. sure their aim is bad, but good luck dodging if there are a dozen and they block all the doors. if they didnt all rush you as soon as you aggro one it would not be nearly as bad.

And to top it all off, if you DIE, have fun starting over completely but now without all the ammo and resources you used the first time. I had been enjoying the game up to this point, but it feels like the balance just completely fell apart. which is so strange to me because the aliens feel SUPER fair.

Aww thanks for the refund on the clown! Its always good knowing it makes real clowns SUPER MAD to get them! But I mean, if you dont want them just dont post clown takes.

[Zetro]

Personally I’m trying slushie grenades now. That and two batteries and constanty moving a Tesla coil I think I can explore the tower. I’m right there with ya pal

[Fardy McShiddpants]

I brought like 12 heal syringes and 120 scattershot rounds for the shotgun and cleared the out after a huge amount of time and there isn't even anything good up there. You apparently don't even need to go into that area. I think you're just not supposed to.

[Ethical Lune]

How are so many players having problems with the soldiers, the snipers and breachers can be a challenge in a bad spot sure but not the regular dudes. Their bullets tickle, their aim is stormtrooper-tier, you can easily make armor that causes most of incoming bullets to bounce harmlessly, you can block bullets with shields and you can kill several of them with a single cheapo grenade, hell even the breachers die with one grenade come to think of it.

Even if there's a lot of them you can just take cover and stab them in the face with a spear when they come after you or pop out and in of cover and shoot them with a pistol.

They really aren't that tough, you just have to try a different approach.

[Zetro]

Update there’s nothing noteworthy in the tower. Also Tesla whoops butt.

[CombatWombat]

Originally posted by Rooter:

https://imgur.com/a/WbMh64T

It cant stay like this. even cheesing with barricades and freeze bombs the absolute hordes you are expected to deal with are just insane. sure their aim is bad, but good luck dodging if there are a dozen and they block all the doors. if they didnt all rush you as soon as you aggro one it would not be nearly as bad.

And to top it all off, if you DIE, have fun starting over completely but now without all the ammo and resources you used the first time. I had been enjoying the game up to this point, but it feels like the balance just completely fell apart. which is so strange to me because the aliens feel SUPER fair.

^^ yeah that building is crazy. They probably went a bit over the top, because it IS the crossroads after all and they are blocked and you are expected to go around.

[Yaridovich]

Don't rush them - they'll rush you but let them do it and retreat when they do it. Take them out one by one. Pistol headshots are great but otherwise you can also just use a Scrapshot and blast them right on the face up-close. A Welding Spear is also great to poke them in the head.

Goes without saying, but use FORGE armor if you're not already - 2 pieces alone is already very helpful.

You don't need to go into that building right now or even at all. I'd suggest to go around and explore the rest of Manufacturing first so you can get better gear. You can return to this building later. A full set of FORGE armor will probably make it a lot easier.

[Anker]

Yeah, set up a barricade you can hop over, a tesla coil, and a battery. Make some noise to draw them in, hop behind the barricade, and plug in the battery.

[Yaridovich]

What Anker suggest can help, also remember that you don't always need to get in direct combat with guns. Tripwire Mines can help - set them up then lead them to it.

[Sausagetalk]

Try thinking it over with a cup of coffee. You might get a useful idea :)

[coolman552]

ah I see you went into the crossroads at manufacturing entrance, yeah this is the ONLY time where you'll see 10+ soldiers cramped into one place in manufacturing. I managed to survive the full on firefight there just barely but its clearly not meant to be somewhere you need to go without sneaking. There isnt anything good in there anyway, the "coolest" thing is getting to see the MG nest that lights you up if you sprint to the building

[Blorem]

Is that the military checkpoint? The one you get told to specifically avoid?

[Burning like KELT-9b]

i remember tackling that solo, it was tough not because the enemy but because of the building layout. my tactics back then is to keep peeking behind cover so they wouldnt rush me, because if you stay behind cover a bit too long theyll consider you as hiding and will seek you out. i only used grinder, explosive spear, and healthy amount of syringes too, and 3 mugnades. the funny thing is that the MG still would shoot me from behind even without anyone manning it.

[Lucky_Star_Fan]

Guy in the crane specifically warns you about this spot. Nowhere else has this density and you can just bypass them.

[Rooter]

Originally posted by Fardy McShiddpants:

I brought like 12 heal syringes and 120 scattershot rounds for the shotgun and cleared the out after a huge amount of time and there isn't even anything good up there. You apparently don't even need to go into that area. I think you're just not supposed to.

Obviously he tells you to go around. which I did, and the only way I could see to move forwards was going though that area which had level 2 locks, which lead me to believe it was progression. I was under the assumption there was some door I needed to open with higher security access which I got from killing some isolated soldiers. the only place I saw lvl2 keypads that were not useless shortcuts or dead ends were at the main soldier base.

if you really do not need to interact with them at all, thats just some REALLY bad level design. by "sneak around" I assumed it meant, "if you go around back you will have a MUCH easier time fighting them", not avoid them AND THE ENTIRE AREA alltogether. again despite the area having the level 2 security (you know the thing that previously hard locks progression).

why even have an area like that if it has nothing in it. hopefully its something that is planned to be expanded on. cause yikes. Its a long time staple of gaming, that dead enemies = progression, yet the constant respawns (specifically on solo since you constantly reload areas) and pointless areas (that you would not know without a guide or doing it yourself) make is so much more difficult to determine where to go.

I suppose part of me was expecting a big fight to gate progression (not just running face first across the bridge), considering the base building/defense side of things is PAINFULLY lacking. guess Ill give it another go and just not fight anything? wouldnt want to do anything interesting

[Yaridovich]

Originally posted by Rooter:

Originally posted by Fardy McShiddpants:

I brought like 12 heal syringes and 120 scattershot rounds for the shotgun and cleared the out after a huge amount of time and there isn't even anything good up there. You apparently don't even need to go into that area. I think you're just not supposed to.

Obviously he tells you to go around. which I did, and the only way I could see to move forwards was going though that area which had level 2 locks, which lead me to believe it was progression. I was under the assumption there was some door I needed to open with higher security access which I got from killing some isolated soldiers. the only place I saw lvl2 keypads that were not useless shortcuts or dead ends were at the main soldier base.

if you really do not need to interact with them at all, thats just some REALLY bad level design. by "sneak around" I assumed it meant, "if you go around back you will have a MUCH easier time fighting them", not avoid them AND THE ENTIRE AREA alltogether. again despite the area having the level 2 security (you know the thing that previously hard locks progression).

why even have an area like that if it has nothing in it. hopefully its something that is planned to be expanded on. cause yikes. Its a long time staple of gaming, that dead enemies = progression, yet the constant respawns (specifically on solo since you constantly reload areas) and pointless areas (that you would not know without a guide or doing it yourself) make is so much more difficult to determine where to go.

I suppose part of me was expecting a big fight to gate progression (not just running face first across the bridge), considering the base building/defense side of things is PAINFULLY lacking. guess Ill give it another go and just not fight anything? wouldnt want to do anything interesting :hungry_ONE_PIECE_ODYSSEY:

You're... Really missing the point here.

A game having an area you can go to doesn't mean that you HAVE to go there. If a NPC in the game tells you that area is crowded and you should go around it but you decide to go anyway and then you die, you really have no one to blame but yourself. This isn't bad level design, this is the player purposedly ignoring information the game has provided them with.

And sure, maybe you do want to see everything in the game, I do too, but I went there already expecting to find out why it's an area to be avoided and I confirmed it.

"expecting a big fight" is also missing the point here. You're not playing as a soldier, you're playing as a scientist/engineer/guard trying to survive the mess. Combat in this game isn't the focus, it's a survival tool. You're not meant to be taking in dozens of mercenaries on your own.

Saying that "dead enemies = progression"... What? There are tons of games where you progress without killing enemies, many games actively encourage the player to avoid combat entirely.