Alpha 14 Combat Difficulty (help with combat tuning!)

Gameplay
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Hello Stonehearth fans! With the recent release of Alpha 14 to the Steam Latest branch I am sure many of you are testing out all the new features (new monsters!) in the game. I’ve seen a decent number of posts regarding the difficulty of the game. @linda has been working very hard on ensuring that the game is well “tuned”, so that each normal game should be of similar difficulty, and that encounters occur at the correct time in the game (as measured by net worth and number of hearthlings typically).

To help make this happen, I am making this thread for you to share details about your combat experiences in Alpha 14. If you wish to provide information, please be sure to include the following information:

  • As many general details about the encounter as you can provide
  • Monster info:
  • Type of monster (including size if applicable)
  • Number of monsters
  • Footman Info:
  • Number of footman in battle
  • Footman levels
  • Footman weapons
  • Armor footman were wearing
  • Game info (viewable from town overview screen - i hotkey):
  • Total net worth
  • Total number of Hearthlings

Thank you as always for your help and support, and don’t forget, have fun!

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General details: Three footmen killed by 2 Goblin Wolves on Day 12 of a new Alpha 14 game - Ascendance race / Forest biome

Type of monster (including size if applicable): Two large Goblin Wolves - no Goblin camp seen. They attacked from the top of a ladder above cliffside tunnel entrance. Had previously fought med golem, 2 small golems, lots of goblins, one giant zombie, 2 lizard thingies.

Number of monsters: 2

Number of footman in battle: 3

Footman levels: 4, 2 and 2

Footman weapons: Lvl 2 Footman: Giant Bone Axe (+25atk) - Lvl 2 Footman: Giant Bone Mace (+24atk) (taken from Goblin Leader in previous skirmish) Lvl 4 Footman: Giant Bone Axe (+26atk) - Both axes were gotten from a trader for giving 12 window frames - a great deal!

Armor footman were wearing: Lvl 2 Footman: Bronze Breastplate (+5 Def) Lvl 2 Footman: Thick Leather Vest (+5 Def), Level 4 Footman: Thick Leather Vest (+5 Def)

Game info (viewable from town overview screen - i hotkey):

Total net worth: 5153

Total number of Hearthlings: 14

I was really surprised at how quickly the monsters got more difficult with each passing day. I didn’t expect to have such tough monsters by Day 12… was it my net worth or was I doing something wrong? Should I have had higher level weapons and armor by then? I had just barely gotten my blacksmith leveled up to start making bronze armor and weapons so I’m not sure if I was just too slow or the monster levels are too high.

*Edit: I loaded previous save to get all the info about the gear my footmen were wearing for this report - decided to play it again and see what happens… Day 13, I noticed the wolves, they were in a camp with a little golem so I sent my footmen to attack instead of waiting for the wolves to attack us - this went better and I only lost 1 footman (the one who had just leveled to 2) instead of all three… so perhaps the first round was bad luck or I wasn’t prepared. Oh and I used one of the stamina tonics too so I think that helped. Still a very tough fight and the two surviving footmen were down to less than half a sliver of a quarter heart!

Hope this feedback helps!

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As many general details about the encounter as you can provide
Monster info:
Type of monster (including size if applicable) I’ve played through them all I believe :stuck_out_tongue:
Number of monsters, Usually around 5 / 12, per 12 hour
Footman Info:
Number of footman in battle: usually 1
Footman levels: 3 footman, 2 level 6’s and 1 level 3,
Footman weapons: Giant Bone axe x3,
Armor footman were wearing: Bronze breastplate, Iron Mail x2,
Total net worth: 9430
Total number of Hearthlings: 19 (so far)

Personal note: I feel once you get a level 18 + weapon, there is little to no threat, I now have a level 26 weapon (Giant Bone axe) which is way to powerful and kills all the enemys pretty fast (mostly 2 hits a kill). I’ve only lost 1 guy in 9 hours of game play, and that was because he wanted to be brave and try to kill everyone with a trappers knife before the footman could help him. I love the way currently mobs are spawning, large enough to give you a threat and try to prepare for them, and at points if they damage your hearthlings enough. (thats the reason I have 3 footman, Wolfs did more damage than any mobs, and left 2 of my footman hurt badly) it adds more worry and makes you re-strategize , which I personally love doing. I just feel either a level 18 weapon is to powerful or mobs are to weak, or maybe its just me over playing it! :smile:

I can rely on 1 footman to take out an entire camp at this point, There’s still the feel of fear when they run through your town, at most at this point my hearthlings lose 2 hearts, It even got to the OP point I made the goblin chief cry.

poor goblin.png1436×803 80 KB

I like the fact factions can fight each other, it makes it feel more like the wild environment now, which I really enjoy, so good job with that!

A few things I’d personal feel would help benefit at this point. specific beds that the herbalist can tend to, as my towns gotten bigger and my footman take damage, they’ll go to the nearest bed, then if they see an enemy they will go fight them without being healed. I feel having different types of beds will make the use of wood more limited, or limit you to wasting it because you have 1 more thing to worry about and your hurt footman can be somewhere safer. So you can make a safe part in your town and place the dedicate beds so your hurt footman can be as safe as possible.

Over all though, I love the new feel and all the new enemy’s. It makes the game feel so much more complete being able to get to 19 hearthlings, have a good size town, and keep the game going for hours on end with no real performance loss. I think you guys have done an amazing job, and love the progress made,

Sorry for this being so long, I wanted to share as much as possible as to how I see combat so far!

Edit: I take back the part about weapons being OP, I’m about 16 hours in now, And my people are slowly getting destroyed now, I’ve got 4 footman now and lost 4 people, So fair play to the goblins and enemy factions, they’re just making this more interesting, I guess I should never underestimate the power of them! Now it appears most of what I wrote is irrelevant, Apologies for that!

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Hmm… Lot of people playing the orginal faction… I’m playing raiya’s children.

Footman: 1 default things, nothing else. Just the wooden sword they become one with.

Monster info:
roughly around 500 worth had a small golem encounter (3)
First encounter was sometime before 500 worth, and was single goblin with small camp. (happened 2 times)
Had a thief goblin.
over 500 worth getting my first hearthling in daily total 6; I got a single armored goblin, small camp to go along with it.
single wolf spawn on occasion. total 3 one at a time.
Getting up to 800-900 worth: 3 pack of wolves. goblin camps small (1).

Haven’t gotten back to game as that was my first session last night.
My footman enjoy’s sleeping a lot, can you tell why… lol

This was all 7 days of in-game play.
I didn’t get my first attack until day 2 night. 3rd or 4th day (dont’ remember which) was most interesting as I got attacked 3 times. Once mid-day, once in the evening and a night time attack. That was the golem trio during mid day getting my 6th hearthling. a single wolf, and a goblin at night.

Mostly though with what I have experienced so far my default soldier handled well.

Level 1 soldier was around the minor first goblin. Level 2 was what my soldier gained from the golem attack. Ended on level 3 footman. Which she was when attacking the trio wolf pack.

Yes that sole footman is quite a brave one and surprised survived all that. Since I have yet to get another sword, or even a herbalist. Like I said, she sleeps a lot in between battles. On the ground mostly though. As by day 7 I barely have a dining hall finished with only a couple chairs inside. Is the only structure I have. So don’t have any beds placed.

Should sleeping on the ground heal that quickly? I would think beds would help better for that kind of recovery. >< Sure it took half a day, but she was only half healh. I think 6 body and 5 spirit. 1 mind.

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there is not an endless spawn of enemies, for me, so it’s not quite so bad, but they do attack… 5-8x a day. getting more and more difficult as they managed to kill both my footmen, which were each level 3. my boyfriend who also plays says that last time he played, before he started beta testing, the attacks were supposed to happen maybe every 12 hours, in game-time. :confounded:

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Hey there @Smiley8716, welcome to the Discourse. Your boyfriend is correct, but only partly. New events are supposed to take place once every 12 in-game hours, but certain types of events can recur, like goblin campfires spawn new goblins (not sure the rate), and a new event still occurs every 12 hours. Let me ping @Linda who has been tuning the encounters to see if she can shed more light on this for you :smiley:!

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Well continue from my previous things went roughly the same, although no trader for getting a new sword. So still the same footman, but with thick leather and maul you make from mason.

Correction on stats, it was 4,4 with 1 mind.

Had gotten to 12 hearthlings and encampments of goblins, which dispatched. Barely have 2 houses. Finally at least 2 beds. a couple nights after the 12th hearthling gain and a giant wolf attack. Guessing around 3500 worth.

3500-4000 worth: next day another giant wolf. a camp at night.
Day came after that onslaught of the camp waking up my footman. She continues to sleep, since the giant wolf I had to use malitia in order to help kill them. kiting to banner where some stood.

low health and healed, still sleeping. next day awakens mid day goblin campaign initiates. I just accepted demands as I am no condition to fight. My poor footman. Then right after I hit the accept button for that A slow moving golem (the big kind) with 1 or 2 smaller is heading towards my place.

That is where I left off. I saw that and said nope, as my footman is still sleeping. On the ground as usual. Almost perpetual sleep since she keeps getting woken up from nearby enemies even though she is full health.

the only reason I stopped the game then is the shear difficulty that would be to my 1 soldier; which nearly died if I hadn’t quickly went to kiting each of the wolf attacks. That and no trader to help me get another soldier, as carpenter is a long ways away. Barely have a mason.

So the goblin campaign on a separate thing from the other events I am assuming. Doesn’t bother me much, but probably shouldn’t have increased to 12 hearthlings, as that was the turning point for me, when roughly the first of threats nearly killed my dear footman.

She had just finished off a goblin emplacement, and giant wolf was enough to get her to a black heart. Granted between each attack from then on she healed quick enough to full by sleeping on the ground. Although don’t think she would be able to handle the ones I left off at, especially now all she wants to do is sleep.

That is 2-3 day span. As soon as she was finished with her job she goes to sleep. I left off with her dreaming of food. She rather dream of it at the moment more than go to eat. ><

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Sidenote, Kinda redonkulous (made up word not misspelled) how many crypts are coming up

This is not counting the 4 i already took out, the goblin camp the 3 wolf camps, the small goblin fires, the stone giants, the ent’s, wolfs, UHG lol

3 Likes
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What’s your actual day ?
You may start building a graveyard :grin:

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My suggestion is to turn of healing when not in a bed for all hearthlings. During a battle any health regained is minimal but between battles it would increase reliance on healing to regain health. It would also increase the difficulty as more enemies are generated. Keeping it a bit more interesting when you reach the late game (a level 6 footman with full plate armour and steel weapon can deal with everything without a herbalist to back them up) But the late game needs to be made more difficult in general.

Just a suggestion anyway…

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I’m with you to a degree. My general problem is that the herbalist feels like it’s a role that’s essentially forced on to the player at a time when you need workers to cover various crafting classes. It requires a crop to make stuff with and uses silkweed/threads. And, once your footmen are geared out, you barely need it again ever so their stuff begins taking up space… It’s a solution for a problem that doesn’t really exist.

Definitely agree that late game needs to be a little more difficult. Once you +20 attack weapons and Full plate, the only threat is a pack of something spawning in a place you’re not looking at and killing some of your workers.

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Started a new game for the purpose of this thread.

Day 13. I have 13 hearthlings total (missed a couple due to low net worth. Kinda sucked, but not that bad).

I have 2 footman currently. A 3rd will be added shortly. Level 2 and 4 respectively. Recently handed them longswords and steel shields, which have made a big difference already. Both have 2 or higher spirit – learned my lesson after my last game…

Fights have not been too bad so far. I think at worst one of my footmen dropped to 1/2 heart. I haven’t gone after the Goblin Chief yet. Waiting for a 3rd footman to take care of him. Doesn’t help that he spawned a mile away from my base worried that if I attack him, I’ll get hit with invaders while my footmen are away.

I do no have a herbalist. Yet.

My personal opinion: Some of the early blacksmith weapons need to have the material requirements changed. I think changing the leather requirement on some of the items to cloth would help. Leather early on is really hard to get aside from buying it from the trader. And making it is expensive considering the value of wolf pelts (which sell for 36g each vs. buying 1 leather for 25g). Upgrading equipment is a game changer. Once you’ve got a full set of steel grade equipment, nothing is a threat. Getting a blacksmith up and running should be a high priority for anyone running 1.4.

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I had an issue with hearthlings pinned in a corner cowering, were all slaughtered by 3 wolves.

This is an issue since there were 5 Hearthlings and they should have been able to take the wolves. No, I wouldn’t consider this broken as they were all very weak in spirit and it is understandable. This was just a horrible event that could have had a bit more depth added to it. Why this bothered me was 5 guys were mining 30 seconds away from home and were attacked, by a spawn in right inside the mine they were in.

My suggestion is that if the Hearthling is in “cower” mode that there be a timer and a health meter check. If the health meter is at half and or the predetermined timer goes off (or a second spirit check) the Hearthing begins to fight regardless of what I believe is the ‘spirit’ check.

At least the poor guys would stand a minor chance. I understand they’re supposed to be cowards, but even the most cowardly would pick up a rock at some point.

Az

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maybe offtopic, but it looks like the stone golem (medium and big) is not dropping anything (or too less).
The little ones drops stones very often (everytime?).
The drop reward for the medium or bigger stone golems is not high enough.

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@talamatur i’ve also noticed that, every once in awhile i will get some ore, but thats pretty rare.

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General details: 2 Footmen killed by 3 Goblin Rading Wolves on Day 15 of unstable version 2797. Army is fleeing before fights begins. Ascendance race / Forest biome

Type of monster:
3 Goblin Rading Wolves.
Had previously fought giant zombie.

Number of footman in battle:
Level 5 fighter: bronze pike; rough wooden buckler, bronze breastplate, 2 spirit
Level 3 fighter: bronze pike; rough wooden buckler, bronze breastplate, 4 spirit

Game info
Total net worth 8802
number of hearthlings 15
the numbers on the banner 7(green) 6(anvil) 2(blue)

My problem is: all other encounter was finished fine (especially if both fighter are attacking at the same time). But then the wolf encounter comes and is really hard. Biggest problem is that my fighter run away wenn the wolfes come (and every kind of wolfs is very fast).

I can send my savegame if someone tell me how.

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Can you tell us what the Spirit level was for those footman? Lower spirit means they’ll flee more often.

1 Like
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I edited my post.
finaly i win this fight with only one lose (my poor farmer guy…).
Maybe its to hard if hearthlings always run away. I think debuffs on fighting values are an option to make the result not so extreme.
eg: flee check success, everything is normal
flee check failed, debuf 20% combat values (just an guess)
flee check failed hard, run away

maybe the herbalist has something against fear, in later versions.

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The 2 spirit guys makes sense, even with the courage buff, he might flee from the wolves… the 4 spirit guy should be ok though…

1 Like