Cross Link Scenarios: Adjustable difficulty
 

Cross Link Scenarios: Adjustable difficulty

Adjustable difficulty related with the player’s WIN ratio

Concept: The more the player wins marginal victories the harder the game will be.

Mechanism of Balance based on Standard map/scenario:

1. Increase or decrease of hostile units performing active patrol duties
2. Increase or decrease of replacement points
3. Increase or decrease of auxiliary support units (air, artillery)
4. Increase or decrease of fortification points
5. Combination of 2 or more of the above

1. By increasing the presence of the active hostile units (not stationary) we add more opposition to the tactical plan of the player. Patrol routines will be discussed under the appropriate AI “patrol” section.
2. By decreasing the replacement points we counter the possibility that an experienced player will play the battles without loses, leading this way to unbalanced due to not anticipated evolution of his core army (bigger effect on small battles, smaller effect on bigger battles – depends on the ratio between core army & auxiliary army)
3. By increasing the auxiliary support unit we help player to achieve his objectives on assaulting units
4. By increasing the fortification points we help the player to avoid further friendly casualties
5. By making combinations of the above parameters we may adjust difficulty in a desirable effect.

We have to work with case studies of categories of players

The best system to achieve equilibrium for players that load/save (a lot) during the game will be to create "traps".
A "trap" is the cross-link path that is the result of 3 consecutive decisive victories (or even marginals).
If a player scores something different the he leaves the "trap" and procceeds to the normal campaign route.
The check will will go for a 2 or 3 consecutive decisive victories.

The maximum difficulty will have a limit, in general the Adjustable Difficulty will lead to a combination (permutation) of 3^2=9 possibilities (3 levels of hostile presence and 3 levels of replacement points).
The point is that a player may still be able to play the game at the max difficulty level (max enemies & min replacements points) and that this increased difficulty will force the (reload type of) player to lose more often and win harder.

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...roperties2.jpg

Summary:

The player at the beggining of each Chapter he will gain some replacement points according to the level of adjustable difficulty (d, m, v). Then he will procceed to the Secondary mission (Sd, Sm, Sv) and by the outcome of his victory(?) he will procceed to the corresponding type of primary mission (Pd, Pm, Pv). The result of the primary mission will determine the new difficulty level (of the player) for the next Chapter.
The mechanism of calibration of each primary/secondary mission according to the appropriate difficulty will work by adding a percentage of active enemy patrol forces to the the standard mission. The main task for each Chapter will be to design one primary prototype mission and one secondary prototype mission and then calibrate or modify according these prototypes according to the difficulty level or mission type.

Re: Cross Link Scenarios: Adjustable difficulty
 

Wow, Pyros. This is very good. Yes, if you have the time and the know-how, you can really build some very intricate scenarios with so many different avenues of play.

The only downside, at least for me, is that one wants replay of a campaign without repetition. For the most part, having to replay a scenario to get to a different scenario you did not play before can be frustrating.

But it looks like you are doing a good job of that.

For a campaign this intricate, the designer really needs to map it out on paper and of course be sure that the campaign scenarios lead a person by his victory where he is to go.

Wild Bill

Re: Cross Link Scenarios: Adjustable difficulty
 

Bill, I believe one of Pyros's primary goals from the very start of developing his campaign is that it will not play the same way twice. The intent, I believe, is that it could be played a dozen times and not get the exact path twice. This would not a campaign for players who want to follow the same path each time they play but for players who wish to be surprised by what comes next even if they have played it a number of times.

I have not been involved in the campaigns design or development and only have a general idea of how it will work but I believe the multiple branching options are a central feature of it's design specifically to go a different route than the A goes to B goes to C goes to D type of campaign.

Edited addition to this post:

However, Andy and I are just the toolmakers here. We provide the ways and means to create campaigns and scenaros and it is up to others to use those tools in creative ways. Not everyone will enjoy every scenario or campaign that is built with those tools but the more variety there is the wider the audience and that is the best we can hope for. We gave up on the idea of making everyone happy a long time ago

Don

Re: Cross Link Scenarios: Adjustable difficulty
 

Great tools, Don. Thanks to you and Andy. We ought to be able to build some "Trump Towers" with the tools you guys have given us.

WB

Re: Cross Link Scenarios: Adjustable difficulty
 

Oh, you did not notice my comment after that comment, Don, that says "You are doing a good job of that" in context indicating that he is overcoming that problem.

I did recognize from his diagram that he is carefully avoiding repetition of play.

That is probably a campaign I'll never do. I'm 69 now and I don't believe I'll live that long http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif

Re: Cross Link Scenarios: Adjustable difficulty
 

It was a long day and I read the post too quickly for it to register correctly

Don