Easy mode ludicrously hard

General discussion about the game.
Artamba
Posts: 33
Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2012 1:25 pm

Re: Easy mode ludicrously hard

Postby Artamba » Thu Oct 04, 2012 1:18 pm

Mathew and Justin. If you do happen to read what Leon has been saying, do not do what normal devs would do and completely ruin the game by taking advice from inexperienced gamers, if anything, make another difficulty for people who are entirely new to thinki-... playing FTL. That's not going to upset anybody. :)
boa13
Posts: 829
Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2012 11:42 pm

Re: Easy mode ludicrously hard

Postby boa13 » Thu Oct 04, 2012 1:27 pm

LeonLeon wrote:My last question here is, whether devs are going to implement or fix the proper easy mode in this game or not?

The devs are currently attending a convention, so you will not get an answer now. (And considering how many messages are posted in the forum in addition to all of the tasks they have to handle, there is no guarantee they will address your message specifically.)

My personal opinion is that it is unlikely that easy mode will change significantly, since most players are ok with it. Obviously, not everybody is, and there has been debate about that in the forum, but for the most part it is accepted and welcome by the community.
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LeonLeon
Posts: 18
Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2012 8:24 am

Re: Easy mode ludicrously hard

Postby LeonLeon » Thu Oct 04, 2012 1:34 pm

All right. Thank you for the answer boa13.
Aerowind
Posts: 80
Joined: Fri Sep 21, 2012 1:11 pm

Re: Easy mode ludicrously hard

Postby Aerowind » Thu Oct 04, 2012 2:07 pm

I'm honestly scratching my head on how you could possibly get hurt that much in the first sector with the Kestrel. Even setting your guns on autofire on a systemless room will absolutely wipe the floor with everything in the first sector. The only way I could POSSIBLY see this happening is if that wasn't your first game and were lucky enough to unlock the Stealth Ship (which starts with no shields, so you need a more in-depth knowledge of the game to do well in it.).

I can pretty much get to the boss on every single easy game, because it really is very easy. The only time I can't is if I'm using a particularly hard starting ship and get unlucky. And by particularly hard, I'm pretty much meaning the ships that start with no weapons.
Starbug
Posts: 26
Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2012 11:05 am

Re: Easy mode ludicrously hard

Postby Starbug » Thu Oct 04, 2012 2:45 pm

The game I played yesterday, (Normal) was playing with the Red-tail, my first jump was a real kicker:
Red Giant star, and a particularly strong droneship with 2 shields, bristling with weapons (3 maybe, can't remember entirely) Not great when you only have one shield.

So yeah, chaos ensued, fires broke out, I took some serious damage. Beat the ship, somehow managed to keep all my crew alive (I'm handy with the spacebar, and fairly experienced), but yeah, that fight was MESSY, I jumped away with fires scattered across half my ship. Lost just over half my hull... but a newb could have died for sure.

Mind you, I didn't give up, and eventually got a really good run out of it, beat the game again AND got the secret ship (woo!), so the luck goes either way.

Easy mode has more scrap, and a bit easier enemy generation, but thats about it. You are still at the mercy of the RandomNumberGenerator, and you still need some skill.
It seems you got unlucky. It happens. Death is a learning experience, calm down, move on. Granted, you probably felt as though there was no way out of your situation, and that you learned nothing as a result, but uninstalling the game in rage is a bit of an over-reaction.

You 'could' wait for a fix, maybe they could limit the ships in Sector 1 so they can't have more than 1 shield or something similar, but you could be waiting a while.
I would just play the game again: you're unlikely to run into the same crazy crap you did the first time. And if you do? Just restart! You've only lost, what, a couple of minutes gameplay?

3-4 hrs is enough to learn to play, it is NOT enough to Master this game. I've been playing 40 + hrs, and the above is the first time I came across an insane start and I've only been playing on normal.
This game is immense fun when you get into it: you aren't meant to win first time, even on easy. That would just be boring.
Soronthar
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2012 3:10 pm

Re: Easy mode ludicrously hard

Postby Soronthar » Thu Oct 04, 2012 3:43 pm

It is quite possible to have a long chain of failed attempts on any mode. These are some of the things I have seen:
  • You find no new crew in stores, and perhaps one or two new crew from event.
  • You only find weapons that are worse than the one you have, or the same kind of missiles, or lvl I drones. I even have runs where I found no weapons at all.
  • You get doors subsystem destroyed, while being boarded, without any combat crew.
  • You get boarded by 2 mantis or rockmen when you have only 3 crew.
  • You get "bombed" by sector 2, the bombs disabling your weapons and shields (you know, the same thing we do to destroy the other ship)

Some days I have had at least two of these on each and every run. If I survived by sector 7, I usually end up with a ship that just cannot take on the big boss.

Just for the records, i'm no noob: I have unlocked about half the ships, most of them with alternative layout. And I keep playing. I have been close to find the hidden ship twice (but those rock homeworld seem to cloak themselves when I need them). But it is true that this game is too random, perhaps unfairly so.

I have played many roge-like, including Roge and Nethack, and even if you can die at the whim of the dice, you can at least prepare to maximize your chances. In FTL you just can't do that, you fly with the hopes that you will be able to find along the way the things you need to fulfill your mission, which is not necessarily true.

In contrast, try playing FTL with the "No Rebel Fleet" mod. Once you're able to completely explore each sector, find all stores and trigger all events, your odds to end up with a setup that can beat the boss increase. And even then you may fail.

But, for some reason, I keep playing because the next run will be the perfect run :)
Mottikhan
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2012 5:46 pm

Re: Easy mode ludicrously hard

Postby Mottikhan » Thu Oct 04, 2012 3:44 pm

Starbug wrote:<snip>
Easy mode has more scrap, and a bit easier enemy generation, but thats about it. </snip>


I've heard that before, but in my limited experience, easy mode is significantly easier than normal mode. If I want to get to the boss on easy, I can do it almost every time. (The game isn't always about getting there though). I can only rarely make it to the boss in normal mode.

If the game were easier, it would get uninteresting really quickly though.

One thought about those who get upset at the game's design. Keep in mind that it's a $10.00 game. And I mean $10.00 retail. Mine was $8 or $9, which seems to be the norm. You can't get a crappy meal for 2 at a fast food "drive-thru" for that. This game is a lot better value than a soggy wrapped burger and flat soda in my book.
rudzha
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2012 3:51 pm

Re: Easy mode ludicrously hard

Postby rudzha » Thu Oct 04, 2012 3:58 pm

And I registered on these forums to complain about this game being too easy and to suggest they add a hard mode and some sort of endless mode after you beat the boss...

:(
Gorlom
Posts: 519
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2012 2:06 am

Re: Easy mode ludicrously hard

Postby Gorlom » Thu Oct 04, 2012 6:18 pm

I'm astonished to see the responses to OP in this thread. :shock: Most of you attack his skill and learning capabilities instead of informing him what a roguelike is. :cry:
This game is NOT a casual game that you should breeze through. You shouldn't have all the tools (ie techniques/strategies) to beat the game the first time. That the fun in this game is to learn new things from your death and mistakes. To evolve your skill rather than to be handed it on a platter through a tutorial.

I don't agree with the wishes of the OP but I'm appalled by some of the responses. :evil:
Honelith
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue Sep 18, 2012 12:14 pm

Re: Easy mode ludicrously hard

Postby Honelith » Thu Oct 04, 2012 6:55 pm

Roguelike games are brilliant because they are hard. We need more hard games. I used to find FTL challenging on Easy, but you do get better at it and now I'm finding Easy too easy, heh.