Singleuser game balance

[Miles]

In the "Topic: Oh...my....GODS!!!" thread at:
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...;f=74;t=000884

We have been discussing how game balance effects singleuser play. A typical comment is:

Originally posted by Zen:
I'm all for SP and I'm all for helping out the SP games, but Mod Tools exist for you to make whatever kind of game you want and play them SP until you drool. In the near future they will add to them the ability to make spells, items, and whatever else they intend. So you can make the game how you want it to and unbalance the game as much as you need to enjoy it.

The balance issue keeps coming up. I don't think that most people realize that multiuser balance is an entirely different animal than singleuser balance. I am sure that this has been visited may times. And probably this is all obvious to everybody. But it seems to me that this needs to be laid out again.

AFAIKT Multiuser balance in Dom2 means:

Capabilities of Nation1 = Capabilities of Nation2 = .. = Capabilities of Nation(n)

Multiuser balance is an easy to define thing. All the variables are known. They can all be controlled. They can be understood and standardized. Once you have an understanding of the baseline, adding additional Nations is a straightforward process. Hard, but straightforward.

However Singleuser balance means:

Capabilities of the current user at the current time >= Capabilities of Dom2

Lets start on the right hand side of this equation. The 'Capabilities of Dom2' include the complete user experience. It is a lot more complicated than defining a single nation.

The 'Capabilities of Dom2' is a complex composite. The most important components are:

• Predictability of the user interface.
• Complexity of the user interface.
• Understanding the interactions between different parts of the game.
• Being able to effectively manipulate the game components.

Once you have gotten a handle on whatever the 'Capabilities of Dom2' might currently mean, then you have to realize that the other side of the singleuser balance equation is a complete unknown.

Every user comes to the game with a different set of capabilities. Then, each subsequent time they play, their capabilities have changed.

Thus we see that multiuser balance has almost NOTHING to do with singleuser balance. They measure different things. The math is done in a different way. Multiuser balance is relatively static. Singleuser balance is inherently dynamic.

If you accept my definitions for Multiuser balance and Singleuser balance, then you have to conclude that Dom2 currently has NO meaningfull Singleuser balance. Dom2 does not adapt it's capabilities to the user. And, it is incredibly difficult for a singleuser player to adapt Dom2 to his capabilities.

However, I think that a couple minor tweaks (primarily to the game setup screens) and slight improvement to the modding abilities can provide a great deal of Singleuser balance.

It sounds like I am proposing that somebody else (the 2 developers) do a lot of work so I can get the benefit. However, I think that improving the singleuser experience will benefit multiuser as well. It should also provide a boost of income for the developers. And (to my totally uninformed eyes) it appears to be very simple.

Miles