Suggestion for solo play change

[FluffyKitty]

I like this game very much. After completing the campain missions I began doing solo mode regularly since I'm not that much into pvp in such a game.
A lot has been said about solo mode being "hard".
After many many games I came to the conclusion that it's not "hard" per se, but unfortunately quite luck dependend.
Essentially it comes down to the rolls on the rounds 9 and 10. If you don't get the colors you need for the objectives, or even have to leave spaces empty, the game is most often lost. You can of course lower the probabilites of this happening by maximizing the possible fits in the last spaces, but still bad rolls can screw you.

To reduce the influence of "bad luck" while not breaking the game mode, I came up with the following solutions:

1) Increase number of dices the player can choose from to 5 each round.
2) Allow the player to destroy exactly one dice of choice each round.

Change 1 will significantly reduce to chances to get "only bad dice".
Let's assume there are only 2 colors that will fit the playfield in round 10. For easier calculation let's also ignore the value constraints here.

Current probabilities (4 dices)
- to get only 1 good cube: 0.6^3 * 0.4 * 4 = 34%
- to get no good cube: 0.6^4 = 13%
which means that even with the very strong preparation for final turn (2 colors good), there is a close to 50% chance to get screwed by RNG.

With new rules (5 dices)
- to get only 1 good cube: 0.6^4 * 0.4 * 5 = 25%
- to get no good cube: 0.6^5 = 8%
reducing the total "$&%/"-chance to 33%

Also, change 1 will make all turns a little bit more tactical. The chance you have a tool left that you need that round but can't use due to wrong colored dices will be much lower.

Furthermore, this will indirectly reduce the "$&%/"-chance of the last rounds even a little further since the board building the rounds before already got easier.

Change 2 is there so that the target score doesn't get inflated. There will be still 2 dices (minus tool uses) going up to the scorepanel each round.
However, the target scores will probably get a little lower as well, since the player can choose from more dices and thus can reduce the average points going up there.


I know that the overall difficulty will be lower with these changes. Although I love a good challenge, I think this will overall improve the gaming experience.


Please discuss :)

[jenkweber]

I like both of the ideas that you propose, but especially the 2nd part. I hate how I feel so obligated to use every high number roll in solo mode, because if I don't it will penalize me so much. Often I spend my tools just to keep from putting high values on the board.

I love a challenge, but yes, the solo mode needs a better balance right now. I've played over 30 games and won only once. I'm at the point where I constantly quit and remake the game if I don't get high value objectives.

[Rabob]

Oh yes please. The solo's seem unnecessary hard right now. Downright impossible for most plays. In the last one I could max score 35 points with the secondary objectives and maybe 23 for the highest theoretical score possible (3x6 and 1x5 dice). So in total my max score could be 58 points if I did everything right and had the rolls for it. Meanwhile the game wants me to score 57 points.... like bruh.