Does this game get a bit repetitive?

[nightelfranger]

Like it seems that there is the one best way to play the game and different maps or mayors don't really change that but make playing the same strategy just a little harder? Im not sure what to do with maps but maybe with mayor system you could make it so that mayors who help you play the dominant strategy better would be weaker while there would be significantly stronger mayors that would encourage alternative strategies. Like energy focused mayor line that would encourage building advanced mills and shocking towers, or something to buff lucifers or to reduce titan oil upkeep.

For an example you could first get a mayor that just gave you +20 energy, then +2 to tesla tower range, then +10% energy from mills and +33% energy from advanced mills (+ advanced mills could discharge a small energy burst like shocking towers to add a fun little twist), then a mayor to increase shocking tower range by +1 and reduce energy upkeep by 33%. When thinking of lucifers really needing something you could also have one mayor to refit lucifers with teslacoils for increased cone size and range :P

[TheSuit]

I think the main issue is there really is not a varity of units to allow more strategies to be viable.

There should be mor options to make different types of tactics possible to survive.

[SpaceCat]

Single path to win right now and yeah, I'm bored. I stopped caring about how much % score and fewer days to win, it's basically just more of the same thing but.. longer.... I just completed all maps, challenge mode and that's it.

Still needs some balance on the units, more variety, maybe more zed types and other gimmicks. Let's just wait and see 'til we get out of EA.

[Celebrim]

Well, sure, eventually. But considering that eventually for me was about 150 hours in and I still enjoy playing somewhat, that's a lot of gameplay compared to a typical title. I get bored with a lot of AAA gaming titles after just 40-50 hours.

I don't think 'multiple paths to win' is necessarily a thing you need in a single player survival game. We still have the campaign to come and supposedly it has a tech tree so large you won't see the whole thing on a single play through. I have a lot of ideas for expanding the gameplay (new infected, new units, new technologies, etc.), so presumably the DEVs do was well.

Replay value comes primarily from the randomness of the maps, the mayors, and so forth. To a lesser extent it comes from the variation in the themes across maps.

IMO, the best thing the Devs could do now to extend gameplay without putting a ton of work in the game is add 4 or 5 new map themes. Most of those could be done using existing art work or with minimal additional artwork or with artwork that Is needed for the campaign. Having say 2 new maps that don't need to be unlocked and say 2 new maps with new requirements to unlock would extend gameplay for probably a month.

Also, if they'd follow my suggestions for rebalancing the mayors and adding new types of infected (which would take minimal artwork and minimal coding), and maybe add in a new type of challenge mode...

[Astral]

I call this having to win the game the way the devs want. Yes this game is addicting at first, and up to the devs on how they do their game, but I think will shorten the games life span in reality. I really hope that more games like this would be made, just with more flexability and content. Skip straight to towers/snippers early on and do not even bother with rangers and soldiers. I have probably spent 1/3rd of my game time on map gen and I think it burned me out. if you get a good map, the game is easy, if you get a bad map the game is overtly difficult. Plus some of the bugs still nag me like units not shooting the closest unit to them when they are set to shoot the closest unit to them.

[boxxer1]

You can do a lot of different things. There is an easiest win path and everyone just follows that because of laziness pretty much. You are not required to get snipers and then thanatos to win the game. Also the generated maps ensure every game is different so there is a lot of replayability.

[Rhuzhen]

I get my entertainment/frustration from trying to improve my early game on Map 4 160%.
I still havent beat it after 30 tries and I'm sure more than 20 of those losses were within the first 20-some days in-game. I often make the mistake of forgetting how loud my troops get and also forget the noise generated by walls being hit too close to enemies and the occasional zed that slips past my guards.

[Smug Kot]

every game its repetitive at some point, its called burn it out.

[)o(Analog]

Yes, its frustrating, its too hard and you don't have any real free form of strategy on the first map, Even if you have a OK game going you can get the stray zombie that sneaks in, hits a hut and ends the game in 3 seconds all the way to living 100+ days to only fail because of one wall on just one corner of the map


That said though, I love it, to me its the perfect mix of TD with some strategy. I keep playing and would recommend it to anyone, the devs have created a great game. If I could change anything, it would be removing the locks on the other maps, it's a hard game and people are either playing a ton of hours trying to get to the next map (and getting sick of only one map (me)) or they are not seeing more of the game because they are giving up too early

Again, JMO but to me, the map lock starts to feel more like a punishment more than a achievement as time goes on .

[Celebrim]

Originally posted by Rhuzhen:

I get my entertainment/frustration from trying to improve my early game on Map 4 160%.
I still havent beat it after 30 tries and I'm sure more than 20 of those losses were within the first 20-some days in-game. I often make the mistake of forgetting how loud my troops get and also forget the noise generated by walls being hit too close to enemies and the occasional zed that slips past my guards.

160% is seriously hard. And if I were you, I'd put it down for a while, because they just made a change to the Ranger's mechanics that might make it completely impossible for mere mortals. I had been doing 500% runs, and starting to get close to a win, but now I'm fairly sure I can get passed the first 20 days no matter what I do. Maybe if they put the Ranger back the way it was I'll look into it again.

[thefollowingcharacters]

Well, how many hours did you get out of it? If you enjoyed learning the game, and you've largely mastered the game while having fun, I would call that an outstanding game. Once you've mastered something, its time to move on.

[UnluckyNoob]

Originally posted by Rhuzhen:

I get my entertainment/frustration from trying to improve my early game on Map 4 160%.
I still havent beat it after 30 tries and I'm sure more than 20 of those losses were within the first 20-some days in-game. I often make the mistake of forgetting how loud my troops get and also forget the noise generated by walls being hit too close to enemies and the occasional zed that slips past my guards.

Map 4 is hard. Prepare to it by beating map 2 at max and go 500% after that. Training default 160% makes no sense, you'll just train tactics which won't work later at 500%. And 500% is where real game starts.

This is how your progression should looks for fastest skill improving:
map1 100% -> map1 320% -> map2 370% -> map4 500% -> get 100k scores

[Celebrim]

Originally posted by UnluckyNoob:

Training default 160% makes no sense, you'll just train tactics which won't work later at 500%. And 500% is where real game starts.

This is how your progression should looks for fastest skill improving:
map1 100% -> map1 320% -> map2 370% -> map4 500% -> get 100k scores

Technically, 500% is where the current game ends.

I didn't find the jump from 160% to 500% as big as you describe. I got to the last wave at 160% after 14 games. Then I beat it after 16 games. I have a run on 500% that is at day 56 that I expect to lose during the last wave. It only took me six tries after beating the game at 160%.

I consider 160% a much fairer representation of the difficulty of 500% than 320% or 370%. If you can beat the game at 440% consistently, and you can beat the game at 160% some of the time, I think you can beat the game at 500% with a lucky map roll and strong understanding of the mechanics.

[UnluckyNoob]

Originally posted by Celebrim:

Technically, 500% is where the current game ends.

I didn't find the jump from 160% to 500% as big as you describe. I got to the last wave at 160% after 14 games. Then I beat it after 16 games. I have a run on 500% that is at day 56 that I expect to lose during the last wave.

For me game ends at 110k scores. Dying at day 74 and winning game without razing your own buildings are two big differences.

What about third map, I think its overpriced. It's basically map1 with slower zombies.

[Celebrim]

Originally posted by UnluckyNoob:

What about third map, I think its overpriced. It's basically map1 with slower zombies.

It probably is overpriced, but it's the only map other than map 4 that has a real food constraint on growth. So basically, if you can beat map 2 on brutal, you've learned how to deal with VoD, and if you can beat map 4 on brutal, you've learned how to deal with having less food than you really want.

After that, you just have to learn how to deal with the extra aggro that you get in the early game on map 4, which in my experience just means learning to pump Rangers sooner and longer, and heavily microing the Rangers. You can beat 160% at that point, and then using the same tactics you should be able to beat 500% with a good map roll. The only problem I'm having with 500% compared to 160%, is that the transition to the mid-game is even more brutal. The game I'm likely to lose right now, I was in a winning position on day 24, but then when I tried to expand to the next food with snipers, I drew so much agro that I ended up losing about 1/3rd of the snipers. Every attempt to expand out of my early zone, regardless of how strong I make the sniper ball draws more agro than they can manage. I'm only now at day 56 getting where I can manage the adds and only after so many setbacks that my economy is now too far behind where it needs to be to stop win on day 73. So somewhere in the early mid-game I'm misplaying and I'm not entirely sure how.