How to Enjoy this game?

[timmythemic22]

It sounds like I'm being a smart-ass, but it's an earnest question. I want to like this game, I love the premise. Big Xcom fan from the original back in the 90s, but I get massively frustrated that my characters are being KOd in the second skirmish in the first mission. Admittedly I was a savescummer back in the day, but also love Darkest Dungeon.

- My strat is keeping in cover and trying to let them come to me. I just don't understand how it is fair that I'm constantly fighting 3 v 5 and 3v6 scenarios. It seems like a massive difficulty curve from the beginning. I've been trying to read the guides on steam.

Any particular tips?

[Du-Vu]

The #1 recurring issue I keep hearing about from XCOM players -- you need to be more reckless, it's a pulp adventure. Run from cover to cover, split up and outflank them and pick them off as quickly as you can rather than letting them come to you. You can do a lot of damage in melee and melee attacks can't miss. If you can't avoid getting hit, make sure they're targeting your toughest guys with the most armour points. Make ample use of abilities, you get more bravery points when you score a kill. Heal and repair armour between and during battles. You'll get a sense of how much you can afford as you play but it's a major advantage you have over enemies and most fights.

[Dorok]

It's probably you didn't get some rules. Or to discover the game it's better not start at max difficulty.

It's just about range shoot/move, damages, covers and obstacles, plus the skills when you get some. And more globally manage healing and ammo, plus the oil factor.

There's 3 types of start it's also important to exploit them. When you have the start initiative your positioning is more to kill one enemy or two at first turn.

Just cover and wait can work sometimes but without a character without a sniper rifle and overwatch skill, it's not often efficient.

Overall there isn't a massive difficulty spike, it's more there's points you don't get right.

[petru]

Originally posted by timmythemic22:

I've been trying to read the guides on steam.

Unfortunately last I checked there haven't been a ton of guides published since the 1.1 update in October. A ton of major mechanics were changed since then, so you may be relying on outdated tips. I volunteer Dorok to write a new one!

Originally posted by Du-Vu:

Heal and repair armour between and during battles.

Of everything Du-Vu said, this is probably the one that stands out the most to me.

If you don't have Natalya or someone with healing item in your first adventure or two, you're going to have a bad time. If you do find a spare healing item later on or strip the starter from Natalya, you can right click it from the jeep storage outside combat even if you don't have someone who can equip it.

[Dorok]

Wait in the car you can't use anymore healing kit or repair kit without a character having the skill?

It's still handy to have some with the skills for the bonus healing/repair they add. And a Healer during combats can help. How work armor now, I think it's less useful to use during combats, but major in car.

[Dorok]

I don't think mechanism changed so much that old general guides aren't valid anymore, but for sure they'll have wrong details.

What I remember, not last version with Hardcore mode but previous with already most changes. It was overall a bit easier than previous version, a lot because less harsh on RNG in adventure management, but:

• Cover system should be like explained in old guides.
  
• Old guide should give the keyboard key that allows show percentage chance to hit, like shift or something, use it a lot to understand how cover and chance to hit and cover work. This can be used before move a character and for the move target position where is the cursor.
  
• The point isn't anymore to finish most combats with zero damages, this is harder than it was before, at least during first levels.
  
• Pistol isn't anymore the must have weapon, it was easy to use before because it allowed double shot on same target and then kill many enemies in one attack. But not anymore, it's still powerful, but needs be played from a party point of view, not one character after another. Pistol lower HP of two targets, then an AOE kill both, or two characters kill one target each.
  
• OP was at very beginning of the game, so it's not a point, but now it's less a rush to damages allowing one shot one kill, this was more efficient before, now you need temper it, at least if you play at higher difficulties.
  
• Before you couldn't start at higher difficulties, so old guide had no warning about it. But now start without any knowledge at max difficulties isn't a good idea, at least play one adventure or two before, to understand the main rules and mechanisms.

Some tricks I vaguely remind from my last play, still before version with Hardcore mode, but with version with most changes:

• Characters don't die in Normal mode, they aren't available for next adventure, but will be available after. You can exploit it at will, like start an adventure and end it and they are again available, well if this hasn't been changed.
  
• You can stop an adventure, you won't lost the XP, probably not the items, or at least try do it to see the effects.
  
• Don't forget use Bravery points, and have a thought on their use, like not waste some for weak reason, or not use one despite you'll restore it.
  
• Dogs can't jump above obstacles, sometimes you can exploit it a lot.
  
• Dogs won't attack a character that hasn't yet damaged an enemy, in some bad starts you can sometimes exploit it.
  
• Some characters have a skill to throw a meat to attract dogs, its effect is aoe, but take care it won't stop attack a character in range. You'll probably need some experiment before to get how it works.
  
• Enemy Snipers with overwatch need Bravery points, it means that often be static with their overwatch will get them break their good position.
  
• I really advise start with a sniper adventurer, and then experiment with overwatch to see how exploit it.
  
• During dialog you still have time to open car inventory, heal, repair, change equipment, if you are short on resources, you can try exploit it like to not waste healing when right after there's an oasis or a healer, but take care it's prone of error, and once you click the "wrong" dialog option that will start a combat then it's too late.

[Dorok]

Originally posted by Du-Vu:

you need to be more reckless, it's a pulp adventure. Run from cover to cover, split up and outflank them and pick them off as quickly as you can rather than letting them come to you.

You can do a lot of damage in melee and melee attacks can't miss.

If you can't avoid getting hit, make sure they're targeting your toughest guys with the most armour points.

Make ample use of abilities, you get more bravery points when you score a kill.

Heal and repair armour between and during battles.

You'll get a sense of how much you can afford as you play but it's a major advantage you have over enemies and most fights.

I think there's already here the main points even if I would disagree with some, lol.

1. Reckless and quick kills

Yes, you need be more aggressive, choose a target and how kill it, outflank will cancel all cover and then plan with party split can help a lot, time is essence.

Now I'll temper it a bit, last changes made this less true, even if still totally valid. With difficulty increase it's less true just because enemies need more attacks to be killed, so play at Easier difficulty first and try learn be reckless and outflank. Past that, exploit enemies AI, anticipate next positions, manage retreat space and sometimes exploit it, learn not just rush forward will help a lot.

2. Melee

Well don't try think melee combats, because it exposes a lot too much characters. But as a finisher, if doing enough damages to kill with 100% chance and save an ammo. But keep in mind the character exposure.

3. Manage target hits

Unlike older version of the games, chain combats with zero damages is harder than before during first parts of the game.

So think in term of more resilient characters and option to expose them more to attract most attacks. Obviously the armor is the simpler tool, and you can add in your arsenal the option, to move and use hunk down with heavy armor to reduce all incoming damages. Another option a bit more tricky is high cover + Low Profile, there's the RNG aspect but if it's a success it's zero damages.

Perhaps the game changed it, but before, Bravery point was also restored by being hit or by dodging. But alas now not anymore if you used a skill (in my opinion a bad change decision), so now those tactics with Hunk Down and Low Profile are less efficient but they still apply.

4. Bravery points

I don't think Bravery point is only restored by kills, but also by being hit, by dodging an attack. But they added a weird change, for last two it's not working if you used a skill. If now it's just kill, then lame basic design and they need consider revert back.

Some adventurers have a skill to restore one Bravery point, it's not an option to ignore.

But otherwise use Bravery points, sometimes not use them is waste some restored hen it's already at max. But don't waste them either, at first when you try learn, don't bother much and think more about using them at any occasion.

5. Abilities

Yeah, abilities will change your combats, think use them.

6. Healing and Repair

Yeah in car consider healing and repair, you'll learn gradually how try waste less resources or when focus on less risks.

In wild combats healing can also be useful, if a character falls you have few turns to heal him before "death". Remind it's not permanent death in Normal mode, only adventurer lost in the adventure and not available for next adventure only.

[Dorok]

Lol, I tried Hardcore, max difficulty on all, get blow up at first combat, one small error and it's over.

To learn the game, and you don't want the hard way:
- Don't start with Hardcore.
- Don't increase difficulty until you feel confident enough.

[TheCollector]

This game is not X-COM. (And it is no military simulation of squad fights. It's more a tactical puzzle and fun game.)

I tried to play it in (old) X-COM UFO style with cover and ranged combat and got wiped out in 1st mission due to the 50% miss chance and enemy superiority in numbers (7:3 in random encounter).

If you have difficulties to survive, adjust difficulty settings. To learn the game :
- reduce number of opponents
- do not increase difficulty level.
(Fuel and supplies is up to you.)

By surviving adventures, your team will level up, get more HP and better equipment.
You can change the settings for your next adventure and increase number and level of enemies if combat becomes too easy.

For early game combat on lower difficulty :
Key for combat is to kill enemies asap before your team gets surrounded and overwhelmed by numbers. Characters with high agility can move to positions with 100% hit chance on enemies. Shotguns can kill most enemies in the beginning with 1 shot. Several characters have special attacks with area effects to kill or weaken several enemies so that some enemies can be killed by other characters with weaker attacks the same turn.
Keep in mind that wounded enemies are as dangerous as healthy ones, since wounds do not seem to affect movement range, chance to hit or damage.
Avoid 50%-attacks unless your team has local superiority in numbers. Attacking at 50% means that your whole team in average scores only 1-2 hits on enemies per turn which might not even kill a single enemy.
Each character can move and attack per turn. Depending on situation try to move your team so that they can concentrate their (100%) attacks on a few enemies while the rest of the enemies is out of range and can only move but not attack.

Since most character classes do not have the option to intercept enemy advances, the game favours otherwise suicidal advances on enemy positions to 100% one-shot enemies.


In late game and with higher difficulty, enemies may have much more HP and/or Armor which may make it more difficult to one-shot them and may make some enemies practically immune against certain attacks. Player options highly depend on special (epic) attributes of found equipment and used team/weapon classes. ( e.g. attacks wich ignore armor, reduce armor or do high damage to not protected enemies.) To kill enemies, the player has to find the appropriate strategy (attack type or sequence of attack types).

[Dorok]

Ok I tried Hardcore Default difficulty, Normal Default difficulty, don't be wrong, Hardcore isn't another play mode a bit more like a campaign, it is significantly harder. It looks rather challenging and the game was probably missing that.

Clearly OP decided play the Hardcore more, eventually even default difficulty, this choice is fine but then:
- Be ready to struggle with this mode to learn play better the game.
- I have doubt that it's even easy for a player experienced in the game, and I don't mention that you can crank up the difficulty.
- If you really want play this mode but don't want face a serious difficulty as you try lean the game, you can pick the mode and low down all difficulty sliders, caution one is reversed and for easier is to the left.