The end game is too easy
imgur.com/a/G2X7o
imgur.comPosted Feb 29, 2016, 1:32 AM UTC
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imgur.comMaybe because xcom is sort of a inverse difficulty curve game. You get better with time, gather more resources, overpower the enemy. The end is just a capstone. Something you've worked for hard earlier.
If the game re-balanced itself to your perceived advancement level, it would be in a constant rebalance flux. You'd get better weapons, better aliens would pop up. So you would get better weapons because the ones you have wouldn't cut it anymore..
Or you could rush in Elder Scrolls style and fight sand goblins with your wooden sword. The difficulty would be comparable to fighting archons of evil with your blade of infite entropy.
Shit's gotta end somewhere, you know.
5
This is exactly right and it is similar to EU. You either lose early or beat the game. Especially since endgame you even get Colonel soldiers as rewards so you can easily replace/expand your roster.
3
Especially since endgame you even get Colonel soldiers as rewards so you can easily replace/expand your roster.
This part is pretty silly.
Especially with AWC, you're basically replacing your existing roster with units that got better AWC perks to boot.
1
Shamelss self-ad: I made a mod for that! http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=633595518
2
Do you get special Perks if you retrain these new recruits? That could make getting these new people even more broken I have to check that.
1
Cool robot army. I guess getting human MEC is a good way to deal with avatars !
1
Relevant: current C/I run. L/I was similar after a point.
What kind of mods/DLC could be used to stop it from being such a roflstomp?
Ideas:
- More enemy types, in the Gatekeeper/Sectopod class
- Larger pods in end game. No more silly Archon/shieldbearer two enemy pods when you have 6 colonels.
- No more silly 10/11 health troopers when you have 6 colonels.
- No more silly 8/10 health snakes when you have 6 colonels.
- Guerilla/UFO missions with unique boss-type enemies
I'unno.
-1
Instead of bragging about how awesome you are, look through the Workshop. There are quite a few mods that would up the difficulty.
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I'm sorry if you interpreted that as bragging, and not as a statement on the game. It's pretty obvious it wasn't. The image doesn't say I Am Super Duper Really Awesome. It says the end game is easy. It's not difficult to be OP in the lategame.
I've done a moderate amount of looking, and haven't seen many, if any, mods specifically catered to the lategame. Which is what the problem is. A mod that doubles the pod size in every mission doesn't address the general problem, of the game's large difficulty dropoff around midgame.
2
It's a similar difficulty drop that was present in EU/EW of sorts though in my opinion 2 gets even easier later on. Enemies as well as the player's troops effectively kill harder than they did in EU/EW and waltzing through missions without ever getting hit or even without getting shot at becomes the norm in 2.
1
I seem to recall that something like this was mentioned in an interview. There was a conscious choice to make late game a human driven curb stomp as a kind of reward for making it through the unmitigated fonging that is the early game.
1
Off the top of my head...
- Enemies who spread out so you get no value from your aoe.
- Enemies with blast padding (66% less explosive damage).
- Enemies immune to the burning/acid debuff, or who cleanse others (alien medics?).
- Burrowing chryssalids/faceless so you need to use slots for scanners etc.
- Maps with 30+ vipers or ADVENT or other individually weak hordes.
- You have to pay for collateral damage on certain maps/missions somehow.
- Make blaster launcher use manufactured ammo.
- Enemies with squadsight, or blaster launchers of their own xD.
2
I feel like this is more a case of "you can continue the game when you could have won". There are legitimate reasons to talk about the difficulty curve, but I don't think your images are evidence of it.
"You can continue the game when you could have won" is synonymous with "It's too easy to win", in a game where the win condition is supposed to be on a timer.
If you don't need the excessive power/resources you get in late-game to win, the requirement to win should be increased/extended until you do. At the least, on the hardest or hard difficulties.
My images are examples of what the end-game of x-com should be designed to require or prevent, because it's what is currently available with little effort in end-game. If you think the win condition timer is too long, "make the win condition timer shorter" is one such solution to my question. I don't think it's a particularly good one, though. Better to flesh the game out than to cut it short.
I definitely agree the Avatar timer is something of a joke, even more than panic in EU. The player should not be rewarded for literally ignoring the Avatar track until it caps out, then they go do a story mission or a facility and everything's fine again. That's not how research works, goddammit! You're telling me this global authoritarian government that's psionically linked doesn't have cloud storage for their data? That when I blow up that facility, EVERYTHING that facility has done for the project is just lost?
I mean, story mission setbacks make perfect sense, you're killing or stealing shit that's crucial to the Avatar Project. But facilities, you're just running in and blowing shit up. Maybe there were supplies there, maybe it was research for the project, but all of that facility's progress is lost? C'mon.
aren't the facilities collection/extraction points? there's always corpses and goop tubes and avatar ez bake ovens around, I think you're still taking out supplies more than research/information. pausing the timer while they set up a new collection point, equipment, print coupons for fake gene therapy, etc.
Just because you have the knowledge, doesn't mean you have the capability.
If a facility has custom built specialized equipment, then that's something that can't be replaced with an order to VWR and McMaster Carr. That equipment must be rebuilt before work resumes. Speaking from personal experience with research equipment, even when you have it on the bench, it could still be days, weeks or even months of dialing a new unit in before it is ready to work.
Some of the work might also have very long lead times.
Ah, that's a fair point.