0022845: Fallen spire chase tweaks - Arcen Idea Tracker (Bugs and Features)

ID	Project	Category		Date Submitted	Last Update

0022845	AI War 2	Gameplay Idea		Feb 25, 2020 11:31 pm	Feb 26, 2020 4:10 pm

Reporter	vinco	Assigned To	RocketAssistedPuffin
Status	resolved	Resolution	fixed
Product Version	1.333 Hotfix
Fixed in Version	2.001 Expansion 1: The Spire Rises!

Summary	0022845: Fallen spire chase tweaks
Description	Playing around with the difficulty XML and the attached save, I've got a few suggestions for tweaking the difficulty of the chase mechanic. The tweaks need to be tested against later-game saves. The saves in the attached deepchase zip are at 7/7/7 and intensity 5 for the spire 1) The spire relic should not be stopped by AI bubble shields. I believe Badger said the Norris effect was the only viable option at this point. I feel that ideally, the spire relic should just ignore AI bubble shields and pass through them since it's not defensible by friendly bubble shields. Norris effect is a good compromise, at least for now. 2) The chase I've got in the save feels to me, based on my memories of AIWC, like it should be very risky, but just barely survivable. We're looking at 7 hops, 3 of which are from a neutered AI world to another. The next 3 are into friendly territory, then one final hop out to an AI world. 7 hops feels like it should be a stretch, especially with as few forces as I have available in the game (about 70 mobile strength, with half of that being a single spire fleet with 2 frigates). Possibly doable, but with significant risk involved, and not only risk of losing the relic. After tweaking the XML, BaseRelicResponseStrength="7000" and ResponseStrengthIncreasePerRelic="7000" feels like a reasonable point. 10k/10k was overwhelming, and even 7500/7500 felt a bit too rough. 3) I'd suggest a logic tweak to the post-chase exo wave targeting. The exologic save below is at the end of the chase with 7000/7000. There's a lovely bunch of threat there, but too much of it is targeting the new spire hub I dropped on the AI world, even though there's a juicy spire capital and homeworld headquarters to attack. Some of the chasing dire guardians even seem to be ignoring the home command station to keep heading towards the new city. If more of the chase fleet was freed up to go after key player targets when a spire hub is dropped into AI territory, it would lead to a bigger true threat to the player's key infrastructure after overextending on a chase. Summary: I'm not sure how this tweak would play out in later game, but it feels right for a somewhat ill-advised chase 2. If I've overestimated how far a player should be able to push the chase, then the variables should be increased further. However, it's going to be hard to find the perfect balance. The difficulty I see is in balancing the rate of spawn vs. the player's speed at killing off the spawn. The further you push past an equal rate of spawn vs kill, the faster the chase becomes lost. And exponentially faster, at that. To find the right balance really requires a vision of what should be an easy chase scenario vs risky/very risky vs too much. How long should a chase be able to last under a "reasonable" player force level before it becomes a near-insurmountable loss condition due to the size of the chasing fleet even if the player manages to get the spire hub down? Should that scale with map size? Should it be static regardless of the number of relics? Should it get easier or harder as the spire force grows? XCOM (at least to me) is a good example of the player's tools growing at a rate which makes the end game easier than the beginning, and it's well loved by many, providing a great sense of progression. That may not be the right fit for AIW2, though. I've not sat in on enough vision discussions to be sure. I'd personally lean towards that model (for the chases alone, at least... the exos are their own beasts) given that the player may reasonably be expected to have to support longer chases later in the game to get a relic from an unwelcome spawn location to a desired hub location. Though it shouldn't be free choice even in the end. It should always be a compromise between finding the best location and not allowing the chase to last long enough for a truly terrifying AI force to build up.
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Date Modified	Username	Field	Change
Feb 25, 2020 11:31 pm	vinco	New Issue
Feb 25, 2020 11:31 pm	vinco	File Added: Deepchase2bookend.zip
Feb 25, 2020 11:31 pm	vinco	File Added: exologic.zip
Feb 25, 2020 11:55 pm	BadgerBadger	Assigned To	=> RocketAssistedPuffin
Feb 25, 2020 11:55 pm	BadgerBadger	Status	new => assigned
Feb 26, 2020 4:10 pm	RocketAssistedPuffin	Status	assigned => resolved
Feb 26, 2020 4:10 pm	RocketAssistedPuffin	Resolution	open => fixed
Feb 26, 2020 4:10 pm	RocketAssistedPuffin	Fixed in Version	=> 2.001 Expansion 1: The Spire Rises!