Solo play is kinda hard

[Cloud]

So I decided that I want to solo the game. Meaning 1 active char. I decided for a thief with high eva/ini/acc. Lvl 6 atm., close to 7. I have huge problems with the random fights. Most times it's 5 enemies, or maybe always, because I haven't seen less till now. I use a dagger and shield atm.. Probably dual weild ain't possible, not sure. The problem is though the amount of enemies. For a solo player - except if I'm just really bad at the game - it's too hard. With 5 enemies, they either manage to kill me in the first round, or they keep me stun-locked till my char dies. It would be cool if the random battles depend on the amount of active player chars. Meining, if I have only 1 active, the enemies should be at maximum 2, to make up for the 20% higher stats for solo players. Is it possible to implement this option? Wfr,

Cloud.

[Cryptic]

The random battles are just that: random. The enemies can range from very few (even just 1 depending on the type) to a group of 8 for the giant groups (savages, rebels, even some large bandit parties, etc) Edit: Most enemy groups are of 2-4 enemies. I think you might just be getting unlucky with the RNG unfortunately. I just looked at the world map random enemy group setup and it has about 70% of them from what I see being under 5 enemies. The average is 3 enemies.

A lot of their skill use depends on a variety of factors, but the enemy definitely will do whatever they can to take you down. It's not meant to be easy, and solo play is very difficult as it would really be if you tried to take on several enemies at once by yourself.

Dual wield in a classical sense is not possible but there are some parrying daggers in game. I think there are like 3 variants. Their text is in orange as they count as armor technically and equip to the offhand slot.

If you insist on the solo route, here is what I recommend:

1-get lots of passive upgrades (skills) such as accuracy, intensity, and elusive/evasive and upgrade your attributes through the character record book item in the plot section of your inventory. you mentioned you're already doing this with the skills so that is good.
2-get good gear. it's as simple as that. a dagger isn't enough.
3-get the skills that give you resistance to status effects and also the talent that allows you to passively heal. it will be invaluable long term.
4-consider getting at least 1 companion who you like and you can level and upgrade alongside your character. i know the solo badass idea is cool, but it's also difficult as you're seeing. even a warhound would help.
5-save often. the game is difficult. it's meant to be that way. if you want to solo, you get some extra bonuses for it such as higher init on the first turn of combat and you don't have to eat as often and stuff, but it's still going to be hard facing a group of enemies.
6-do side quests often. they reward lots of gear, money, and exp.
7-do not be afraid to use scrolls when you're able to. they can turn the tide of a battle greatly. especially scrolls with spells that hit the entire enemy group
8-fast travel using signposts on the world map. it may trigger a travel event, but it might help you avoid random battles (unless you get an ambush travel event or something like that)

That's what I've got for you right now.

What difficulty are you on and what world modifiers do you have? (Check world mods in your passive skills - they count as passives or traits and are obviously marked by (mod) or something like that. Can't remember exactly, it's been awhile.

[Cloud]

I use WM Loner and WM Bloodbath, Trait: Loner, Trait: Agility, I have, except for Dirty Fighting, only directly helpful passives, like Vitality I, Fast To React I, and Evasive III. Power/Prowess 8/8. Talents Decisive and Fluid Posture. Difficulty grade Normal.
Yeah, I think I can accept to have a hound as companion, just need to get Leadership on II, although I can't find it in the learnable skills. Already bought a black one, named him Shadow and fitted him with the best stuff the kennel master had.

[Corrosive Studios [Dev]]

The leadership upgrade is available in the character record book item in the plot section of the inventory. It costs fame.

Loner is definitely a good one to have for the solo route and bloodbath is of course a give-and-take sort of deal. The warhounds are helpful indeed but they just aren't as tough as regular companions but they are great for a loner playthrough.

I think if you follow what I said above and continue as you're going (You seem to know what you're doing based on how your character is described above), you'll be all set.

[Cryptic]

If you need any further help just ask.

[Cloud]

Originally posted by Cryptic:

If you need any further help just ask.

Thanks for the offer. I'm making a bit of progress. Got to rank 16 a few minutes ago.
Yeah, it's getting really hard, and the hound ain't much help. Rarely hits, has only 1/3 of my main's vigor points (39 to my 109), out of lack of skills that push it further. Goes down very fast. I replaced him with the bear, but even her has only 2/3 of the main's vigor, without the chance to upgrade anymore. Maybe later in game there will be better gear for the animal companions, that give more vigor. I don't know if the following is a bug, but seemingly the vigor regen ain't working with the hound. I can imagine it's because 2% of the 39 vigor he has, is less than 1 vigor point at a given intervall, so it doesn't procc at all.

My main is more or less skilled out how I want him. On speed, accuracy, vigor/vitality and evasion. The rest will be just bonus stuff. Most sense would be to get the higher crit rates. I use Main-Gauche and Arming Sword on him. Got my Evasion on 40%, Accuracy on 98%.

I maxed the aspects as much as possible (4/4). So now I'm at 9 Power, 7 Damage, 13 Prowess, 4 Physique, 5 Armor and 4 Posture. Not sure I'm good with that. My dmg output still feels low. Don't know if it's possible to reset the points. Probably put more into power. Still got no idea how the parameters of the aspects work, like Cunning and Reflex. Last one seemingly doesn't apply to Evasion. Not sure if there's parry or so. And first one doesn't apply to higher crit rates or higher crit damage as I would think.

I'm thinking of replacing the bear with another thief char, like Tarawyn as example, considering that "Provoke" ain't working for some reason. I had it on with the bear, in many fights, but in 90% of the cases, it was still my main that got attacked. Maybe it's just more bad luck. ;P

Anyway, if I manage to get that other thief char too on 40% Evasion, and together with the 10% chance of counter and 3% chance of insta kill my main also has, I think I would be better off, considering I still can't finish the side quest where I have to free the quarry in the north.

I've done quite a few side quests anyway. Didn't work on the main quest till now, but the game gets considerably more difficult, the more I stray away from the main town, seemingly. Especially those groups of enemies that look like nordic sea raiders are pretty hard, more so if they come with 7 people.

Really liked the side quest where I was able to save a small family, by killing the bandits, thus saving the woman, and afterwards resurrecting the man with an orb. That was a nice implementation. Or the side quest where I could save the imprisoned female, whom got wrongly accused being a witch, only because she didn't want to marry that one guy.

A really good game, if one manages to survive the first 2-3 hours and understand the system.

[Corrosive Studios [Dev]]

I will look into the health regen issue not working correctly. I may have to change some code around but that should be an easy fix if I find there is indeed a problem. Going to take a look now. (I read your fully message btw but I'm extremely busy today so my reply here is short - I'm glad you're enjoying the game and were able to progress)

Edit: I found why that was happening and resolved the issues. I'll be releasing a patch shortly.

https://steamcommunity.com/games/880130/announcements/detail/3728460558931224285

This update will be live soon.

Prior to this change, 2% of 39 would have resulted in 0.79 (below 1) so it would not take any effect. Now, with the change, it will round up to 1 (since it is above 0.49) and thus will heal 1 VP per round. It may not sound amazing and it may not be a large number, but that definitely can help. I'm glad you reported this to me either way.

[Corrosive Studios [Dev]]

Update live.

[Cloud]

Wow, that was fast. Never seen a dev that dedicated. I wish this game would be more known to players. It deserves it. And you as dev too.

[Corrosive Studios [Dev]]

I appreciate it! The only thing that really helps get word out there are players since I don't have any social media really. Reviews, gameplay videos, and word of mouth are pretty much all I've got for that. But I love what I do and work very hard to provide the best games that I can given the circumstances.

If you play more, let me know how it goes and if the changes above are even noticeable. I did some testing before releasing the patch so I know everything is working for a fact, but it might not be a big enough difference in your case to make a huge impact.

[Cloud]

I'll try to ask Splatty (Splattercatgaming) if he wants to take a look at the game. Although, only social medium I use, is Youtube, so I don't know if I can reach him. He always shows indie games there, one daily, for 30-50 minutes each. And as someone with almost 830,000 viewers, he may give the game a push. Most games he tests, and sees them as good, get pushed in sales by at least several 100%, sometimes even a few 1,000% in a matter of 1-2 months. At least the games I bought thanks to him playing them. 95% of those games I simply would have never seen on Steam, because the feed ain't really good.

Edit: I dusted my very old discord acount from my study days, and suggested Lawless Lands to Splatty on his "suggestions" channel. With some luck, he'll play it at some point.

Edit 2: Can confirm, the changes work as intended. Thanks.

[Cryptic]

Hey man I really appreciate that. Thank you very much, that's very cool of you. If you want to, we have a community Discord and there are links all over the place if you want to join and take part as well. No harm if not. Sorry I took a while to reply, I know we were talking back and forth pretty quickly earlier but my vehicle had an issue that I had to go get looked at so I'm currently replying on my cell phone

[Cryptic]

https://discord.gg/QegKxrU8 here is a 7 day invite if you're interested. Otherwise there are permanent links elsewhere but I can't get it on my phone

[Cryptic]

Excellent to hear that the changes worked!