aliens

Author Topic: changing difficulty in savegames  (Read 6665 times)

Offline Ran

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changing difficulty in savegames
« on: April 07, 2013, 03:07:35 am »
Is it possible to change difficulty by editing a savegeme?

I would like to see how alien behavior changes on different levels.

Offline Warboy1982

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Re: changing difficulty in savegames
« Reply #1 on: April 07, 2013, 10:55:05 am »
open your saved game with any text editor and look for the line that says difficulty: around line 11, change the number to anything from 0-4 (beginner-superhuman)

here's a few examples of how difficulty comes into play:

on the geoscape:

after (14 - difficulty) months, aliens will start initiating retaliation missions proactively at the end of each month, instead of just reactively when ufos are shot down.

in dogfights, UFOs will break off after a random amount of time adjusted by difficulty, will shoot at a rate dictated by difficulty, and will generate a retaliation mission based on some percentages based on difficulty.

the funding nations will judge you more harshly.

when starting a new battlescape:

enemy unit numbers are based on the difficulty, with beginner/experienced being "low", superhuman being "high" and veteran/genius being a random number between the two.

enemy stats gain an average rate of an extra 4% per difficulty level over beginner, and on beginner, enemy armour values and the firing accuracy stat are halved.

during the battlescape game:

the likelihood of psionic attack ranges from a 25% to a 50% chance.

the likelihood of grenade attack ranges from a 20% to a 33% chance.

explosive efficacy takes difficulty into account when weighing it's decision.

alien blaster launchers are restricted to a certain number of waypoints relative to difficulty (6-14).


as a result of this enquiry, a code cleanup has occurred.
« Last Edit: April 07, 2013, 12:59:40 pm by Warboy1982 »

Offline Ran

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Re: changing difficulty in savegames
« Reply #2 on: April 13, 2013, 11:31:07 pm »
Awesome, thanks!
I switched my main game to superhuman as it was getting too easy on veteran - and the aliens really kick ass now!  :o

Offline Ran

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Re: changing difficulty in savegames
« Reply #3 on: October 21, 2013, 03:14:32 am »
Hello!

Been taking a break from OXC during summer, I really like what you created within the last months. :)

Just out of curiosity - what happens if you set a number higher than 4 for difficulty?
I tried but I don't see any obvious differences.

Offline Ran

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Re: changing difficulty in savegames
« Reply #4 on: February 06, 2014, 06:43:43 pm »
Just wanted to revive this - what exactly happens at difficulty settings above 4?

It works without problems, can't say if it gets even more difficult though.

Offline Warboy1982

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Re: changing difficulty in savegames
« Reply #5 on: February 07, 2014, 11:52:00 am »
Just wanted to revive this - what exactly happens at difficulty settings above 4?

It works without problems, can't say if it gets even more difficult though.


it does.

Offline Ran

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Re: changing difficulty in savegames
« Reply #6 on: February 18, 2014, 12:03:10 am »
Oh Yea!

Intercepting UFOs on difficulty 8 is really hilarious... :D