[A15] Late Game Raid/Ship Difficulty Cassandra Intense Seems Too Easy

[pdxsean]

While I enjoyed the challenge of early game on Intense difficulty, I've found that the late game doesn't seem to be keeping up with the growth of my colony. For example, I have 21 colonists and am fairly wealthy with deep mining and plenty of installed artwork. Yet my latest raid - a group of melee pirates who will wait a bit - has only 17 raiders. Does this sound right for a Year 5 game? The attached save is just after it spawned.

I've had as many as 24 colonists, and for a couple of years now the raids have seemed easier than in Cassandra Challenge. This is the first time I've moved up to Intense since like A10 but I was expecting some monster raids like the old days. It seems like my colony should be getting like 32 or so raiders at this point.

Manhunter packs do seem to be appropriately difficult. The last ship that landed had seven centipedes in it, and I think I had 22 colonists at the time so it seemed a little weak... I definitely cleaned it up easily.

Sorry if it sounds like I am humblebragging, I definitely feel like maybe there was a mixup in the balance.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0eaARYcJtW6S2NRaFVfN1pEUVU

[attachment deleted by admin - too old]

[Calahan]

Thank you for the bug report and save file. I've never had a game last 5 years, so I can't personally comment on how tough/big/threatening raids should be after that amount of time (although others who have might comment with comparisons to their experience).

But one thing I would please like to ask is how frequent you have found the raids during those 5 years on Cassandra (Some) Challenge? And if you have played the same difficulty level and Storyteller in previous alphas, then how does the size and frequency of the raids compare to those? I have only played Cassandra Extreme for several alphas now, but one thing I have been noticing while playing A15 is that raids seem to be more frequent, but without really getting any more threatening, and sometimes they have gotten weaker (without me having lost any Pawns, or incurred any real damage, to justify weaker raids). They have gotten strong over time, but their progression seems to have been a bit wonky (or at least wonkier in this alpha than previous ones. IMO).

[pdxsean]

I had several A14 games last around 5 years - that's typical for me as I don't do the spaceship and tend to play until I get bored and move on. Deep mining and a larger map has kept this one more interesting. However this is my first move up to Intense difficulty over Classic post A12. I've always played Cassandra.

So this A15 intense game, I would say the frequency of raids is good. Maybe they could be a little more frequent? But I feel good about them. I can repair my defenses and get a little extra work done - people out of the hospital, most mood problems cleared up - before a second raid comes along in general. The combo events (solar flair plus raid for example) or back-to-back raid/infestatiion/ship type events are infrequent but feel like they've ramped up after year 3. Maybe not as much as I feel Intense difficulty should tho.

As for previous games, back in A8-11 I played cassandra intense most of the time, and basically would play for four years or so until the storyteller would send such a powerful raid or combo that my colony would be devastated. This was inevitable back then. Then I took six months or so off (while Tynan was on vacation) and mostly skipped A12 but got back into it for A13.

A13 felt a lot harder than I had remembered so I dropped to Rough difficulty but also moved to permadeath. Then as A14 rolled out I was able to move back to Classic difficulty, and after two games of permadeath cassandra classic with no real problems I moved to intense. I definitely miss the overwhelming end game forces that used to come around in the old alpha, although maybe they still show up six or eight years in. I'm also much better at building defenses than I was back then. This colony is my most sophisticated, I feel, but is typical for me with several exterior walls and a modest killbox where my pawns provide the majority of the firepower while enemies attack turrets or stumble over obstacles.

Hope that is good feedback.

[pdxsean]

one thing I have been noticing while playing A15 is that raids seem to be more frequent, but without really getting any more threatening, and sometimes they have gotten weaker (without me having lost any Pawns, or incurred any real damage, to justify weaker raids). They have gotten strong over time, but their progression seems to have been a bit wonky (or at least wonkier in this alpha than previous ones. IMO).

I would agree with this, although I am not sure about the increased frequency. However the not increasing in threat is my experience as well. It was great for the first year or two, some real challenges in there. But once I reached a point of solid defenses and moderately skilled pawns the increases in size/frequency didn't seem to keep apace.

[nccvoyager]

I haven't had my colony running for quite that long yet (around 2 years now) but, I have found that while pirate raids are getting larger the bigger I make my colony, they are not necessarily getting stronger.

For me, more pirates are showing up every raid, but less of those pirates have ranged weaponry.
(Second-to-last raid, 16 pirates, 8 with ranged weapons, 8 with melee weapons, 4 of those with personal shields.  Last raid, 18 pirates, 7 with ranged weapons, 11 with melee weapons, 3 with shields.)

So, even though the pirates are showing up in greater numbers, they are actually weaker.
If these were tribesmen, I might understand.  But, this is a band of pirates, ruthless killers that want all your stuff, whatever the cost.

[pdxsean]

So I feel kind of dumb, apparently I was confused by the name change of the difficulty levels. Apparently "intense" is just the new name for "challenge" while I thought it was the highest difficulty level. So that explains why it seemed so easy, I thought I was playing on "extreme."

[Calahan]

That would certainly explain the easier than expected raids then

I'll close this thread now then since there doesn't seem to be anything amiss (my own observations on raids etc are based on way way too small a sample size to have any meaning in isolation).