[Updated] Higher is Always Harder: A Difficulty Tweak - Now with New Penetration Rules

[zilbest]

I release another mod which is my attempt in giving constant challenge across levels. I already tried this since the beginning of the game to level 15. 

 

However, I would like some suggestions, inputs, or ideas for this mod if you guys are interested...

 

Here is the link of my mod on the Nexus.

 

The description for the mod:

 

 

 

There are some difficulty tweaks around here and I've tried them all. However, I may have some different approach than those. I'm not saying my way is better but it just more suitable with my taste.

A mod that I tried only add superb difficulty on lower level and slowing your level gain.
However, I think the problem with Deadfire is on the higher levels, where every attack of your enemies doesn't matter and you are one-shotting them, with almost always crits.

Also, I prefer to have normal level progression since I will get more tools to deal with enemies, rather than slower leveling. However, what I want is: the more tools I have, the harder enemies I will find. 

1st Method

So, here's my approach, I introduced scaling rules to the GameData up to 15 level difference (vanilla Deadfire only have up to 4 level difference, while other mod only adds up to 6). Also, I add the twist, the bigger your level difference with your enemy, the higher their level jumps.

Here is the example for the Default Scaling Rules for this mod:

• If you are level 4 and your enemy is level 2 (2 level difference), the enemy will gain 2 levels.
• However, when you are level 6 and your enemy is level 1 (5 level difference), the enemy will gain 6 levels. Which means, now they have the upper hand...
• Down further, when you are level 15 and your enemy is level 2 (13 level difference) - which is not on the scaling rules in other mods, that enemy will gain 15 level. It means they will be level 17!
• Automatically, after you reach level 5, you will find more enemies have 1 level higher than you. And after you reach level 10, you will find more enemies have 2 level higher than you.

That is the scaling rules for Default enemies. I stretch it further for Named Enemies and Side Quest scaling rules.

• The idea is still the same with the default scaling rules: enemy level jumps will be higher, if your level difference with them are higher. However Named Enemies and Side Quest will jump further than the default. 
• For example, when you are 2 levels higher, Named Enemies and Side Quest will gain 5 levels! When you are 5 levels higher than your enemies, those enemies will gain 8 levels...

2nd Method
Another method that I use is modifying GlobalGameSettings to be like this:

"Difficulty": "PathOfTheDamned",
        "HealthMultiplier": 3, (Vanilla: 1.5 iirc)
        "AccuracyBonus": 15, (still the same)
        "DefenseBonus": 15, (still the same)
        "ArmorBonus": 0, (remove 2 armor bonus rating from Vanilla since the enemy has 3x health)
        "PenetrationBonus": 3, (Vanilla: 2)
        "LevelMultiplier": 1.2, (Vanilla: 1)


"LevelScalingArmorLevelIncrement": 3,
        "LevelScalingArmorModifier": 2,
        "LevelScalingPenetrationLevelIncrement": 2,
        "LevelScalingPenetrationModifier": 2

The second part of the GameSettings means:

• Every 4 levels gain, the enemies will get 2 additional armor
• Every 2 levels gain, the enemies will get 2 additial penetration

Why? The idea is still the same which is making it harder for higher level. 


Input and Suggestion are Welcomed
I always tried my mod before releasing and I use this mod from the beginning of the game until I reach level 15. From my test, I still find it easy on high level but, at least, now I find the difficulty is pretty constant across levels. You have to pick your damage to different enemy and you still have to hide your glass cannon member even on level 15.

You could see it yourself on the screenshot I attached. On Arkemyr's Mannor, most enemies are at least 3 level higher than me even though I'm level 15.

However, I do think that balancing is the hardest part of game development. Even Riot and Valve can't reach their perfect balancing state even after years dealing with that every season. That's why, I'm open to ideas and suggestions on anything to make this mod more suitable with the title / concept: higher is always harder.

Credits:
Obsidian: It doesn't matter how many new bugs you introduce each time you release new patch, you will still be one of my fav devs!
Notepad++

 

Edited July 15, 2018 by zilbest

[zilbest]

I think I found out the main problem where it gets easier on higher level: your health per level is so much higher than enemy weapon damage. Vanilla penetration rules only have up to 2 penetration ratio multiplier (the gap between penetration and armor) which is translated to +30% damage.

 

Therefore, I have updated the mod with new penetration rules. Combine with my 2nd method of this mod (updated on the mod page description), where enemies get 2 additional penetrations every 2 levels, I introduce new penetration ratio up to 15! Here are the examples:

• When the enemy has 4 penetration above your armor, it will throw +80% more damage!
  
• When the enemy has 15 penetration above your armor, it will deliver 7x damage!
  
• You could check the new rules on the files yourself if you want
  

I really appreciate if anyone can help me test this and give me your opinions. From my own experience, even my tanks who has 400 health dies in seconds now if there is no one interrupts the enemies.

 

For anyone who has great math, please help me tweak the formulas since I'm not that good with numbers...

Edited July 15, 2018 by zilbest

[AndreaColombo]

You may wasn’t to ask MaxQuest for help with formula tweaking—he’s really good at that stuff

 

I’ll be trying this mod for sure next time I play. Thanks for making it!

[zilbest]

You may wasn’t to ask MaxQuest for help with formula tweaking—he’s really good at that stuff

 

I’ll be trying this mod for sure next time I play. Thanks for making it!

 

Thanks for replying... I thought no one is interested in this kind of mod.. lol...

[kilay]

Nice work, i'm downloading it.
About people desires , the most looking for cheats not for a real rebalance. (just check  on nexus the number of downloads of the Unity console vs other mods)

 

Instead i found your idea really interesting.

Feedback will follow.

[zilbest]

Nice work, i'm downloading it.

About people desires , the most looking for cheats not for a real rebalance. (just check  on nexus the number of downloads of the Unity console vs other mods)

 

Instead i found your idea really interesting.

Feedback will follow.

 

Thank you! let me know your experience and opinion on this... since I'm truly unsure about the numbers and making it too difficult. Even the enemy has 60% recovery now (40% faster than vanilla).

[mant2si]

With DD mod Ukaizo has 17 armor and stupid amount of health ... How much armor it has with your mod ?

PoE I balance bosses with higher deflection and something like 50% damage reduction, and normal HP

Edited July 19, 2018 by mant2si

[zilbest]

With DD mod Ukaizo has 17 armor and stupid amount of health ... How much armor it has with your mod ?

 

PoE I balance bosses with higher deflection and something like 50% damage reduction, and normal HP

It has 16 armor but I'm not sure about the health. However, I use different method with DD about the health scaling. DD edits manually for every enemy and I use the multiplier found in the global setting.

 

I also think it's too high although, at level 20 (I don't lower exp gain, so you could easily reach level 20 so much earlier), we should have many skills to lower enemy armor. However, if you want, you could easily lower the settings for my mods. Or how much armor do you think it's appropriate for the high level enemies?

 

On the other side, you could also take a look on its damage to my Eder. I think, with my mod, the enemies could give bigger damage. I played 2 run-through with DD and also see the modified files (and it doesn't modify any enemy damage). So, maybe it could be less boring? 

 

Even though the enemy has similar amount of armor or maybe bigger health pool, the enemies also deal more damage and act faster (since I also modified their recovery speed). That's why it won't be boring, IMHO. What do you think?

[AndreaColombo]

Just my .02, but personally I’m not a fan of giving enemies a speed advantage. Speed, more so in Deadfire than in PoE, is the king of DPS; and contrary to, say, Accuracy and HP, it doesn’t scale with level (so it feels like a fairly artificial boost to an enemy’s dangerousness.)

 

It doesn’t help that Deadfire is obnoxiously slow on average, but that’s another matter.

[mant2si]

 

With DD mod Ukaizo has 17 armor and stupid amount of health ... How much armor it has with your mod ?

 

PoE I balance bosses with higher deflection and something like 50% damage reduction, and normal HP

It has 16 armor but I'm not sure about the health. However, I use different method with DD about the health scaling. DD edits manually for every enemy and I use the multiplier found in the global setting.

 

I also think it's too high although, at level 20 (I don't lower exp gain, so you could easily reach level 20 so much earlier), we should have many skills to lower enemy armor. However, if you want, you could easily lower the settings for my mods. Or how much armor do you think it's appropriate for the high level enemies?

 

On the other side, you could also take a look on its damage to my Eder. I think, with my mod, the enemies could give bigger damage. I played 2 run-through with DD and also see the modified files (and it doesn't modify any enemy damage). So, maybe it could be less boring? 

 

Even though the enemy has similar amount of armor or maybe bigger health pool, the enemies also deal more damage and act faster (since I also modified their recovery speed). That's why it won't be boring, IMHO. What do you think?

 

Your mod damage can be abused by Ciphers/Rogues - dominate enemies -> go to invise

 

I played x2 times solo with DD mod, I can't suggest a lot for party balancing

16 armor is ok and 17 is very high :D

On DD Ukaizo has 26L on your Screen it has 25L - this is also ok

Check how much Ukazio regen health on each stage ? On DD this amount ~ 940+

 

Normal enemies should not has more than 14 BASE armor

 

Could you also show Ukaizo DM roll ? I want to compare penetration value. While I didn't see +100 DM hits, your mod well balanced

Edited July 19, 2018 by mant2si

[zilbest]

Just my .02, but personally I’m not a fan of giving enemies a speed advantage. Speed, more so in Deadfire than in PoE, is the king of DPS; and contrary to, say, Accuracy and HP, it doesn’t scale with level (so it feels like a fairly artificial boost to an enemy’s dangerousness.)

 

It doesn’t help that Deadfire is obnoxiously slow on average, but that’s another matter.

I know how you feel. Although, because of what you said too, I think it's crucial to make them attack faster since we have ways to make our chars faster.

 

But, I guess maybe it needs better tweak. I've tried different number actually but 20% faster is not really noticeable. That's why I boosted it to 40%.

 

Let's see how the others, if any, feel about this. I (or you, if you want) could change the number easily since it's only in one line.

[zilbest]

 

 

With DD mod Ukaizo has 17 armor and stupid amount of health ... How much armor it has with your mod ?

 

PoE I balance bosses with higher deflection and something like 50% damage reduction, and normal HP

It has 16 armor but I'm not sure about the health. However, I use different method with DD about the health scaling. DD edits manually for every enemy and I use the multiplier found in the global setting.

 

I also think it's too high although, at level 20 (I don't lower exp gain, so you could easily reach level 20 so much earlier), we should have many skills to lower enemy armor. However, if you want, you could easily lower the settings for my mods. Or how much armor do you think it's appropriate for the high level enemies?

 

On the other side, you could also take a look on its damage to my Eder. I think, with my mod, the enemies could give bigger damage. I played 2 run-through with DD and also see the modified files (and it doesn't modify any enemy damage). So, maybe it could be less boring?

 

Even though the enemy has similar amount of armor or maybe bigger health pool, the enemies also deal more damage and act faster (since I also modified their recovery speed). That's why it won't be boring, IMHO. What do you think?

Your mod damage can be abused by Ciphers/Rogues - dominate enemies -> go to invise

 

I played x2 times solo with DD mod, I can't suggest a lot for party balancing

16 armor is ok and 17 is very high :D

On DD Ukaizo has 26L on your Screen it has 25L - this is also ok

Check how much Ukazio regen health on each stage ? On DD this amount ~ 940+

 

Normal enemies should not has more than 14 BASE armor

 

Could you also show Ukaizo DM roll ? I want to compare penetration value. While I didn't see +100 DM hits, your mod well balanced

Thanks for your opinion. If you have the time, would you help me to test it too?

 

Let me check the rolls when I have the time to open the game.

 

However, how can I check about the health regen? It's harder to check most enemy's stats in here unlike in Skyrim.

[mant2si]

> Tanks for your opinion. If you have the time, would you help me to test it too?

Sorry I don't want to be involved in mods development before Obsidian release last DLC, in each new patch they change at least 50% of game balance. Sometimes I playing with hardcore DD mod and don't use top tier Arcana and Poisons, game feel pretty harsh

But for my point of view enemies DM can't change a lot :D

> However, how can I check about the health regen ?

I saw regenerated HP amount in combat log when Ukazio regens his HP

Edited July 21, 2018 by mant2si