Difficulty ?

[Enji]

Hello,

I have just downloaded Standoff.

After having finished WC2, 3 and 4 (difficulty veteran I think) without much trouble. I am really surprised by the difficulty in standoff. Adjusting the diffulty setting in the option menu does not seam to have any effect.

Is the difficulty level adjustable ? Would there be a bug here ? I cannot believe the game was actually designed so that the "newbie" has to replay more than 3 times the second mission...


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[PopsiclePete]

Hi, I hope you'll enjoy our game !

Regarding the difficulty - the game was originally designed back when many WC fans were complaining about WCP/SO being too easy. The story setting of Standoff - the false armistice and Kilrathi attack on Earth - also called for a tough game.

This being said, changing the difficulty setting will have a significant impact on the game. If you really have a tough time beating the missions, don't hesitate to lower it on rookie. Also, keep in mind that contrary to the other WC games, Standoff keep track of the your wingman's ship losses, so next mission you may end up having a much smaller flight group to win your mission. Keep an eye on your friendly ships and make sure they get back home.

One last thing - it's ok to loose missions in Standoff; loosing a mission won't automatically put you on the "loosing" mission branch, and even if you get there we put lots of efforts to make it fun and interesting !

Oh, and I would also suggest that you register on the forums, and train in the mission simulator that will be made available to you in episode 2 (7th mission onwards). You'll also be able to use your registered forums username to log your scores on the scoreboards !

 

[Eder]

I would add two things to what Pete just said:

1) The difficulty setting in WCP/SO (and consequentially Standoff) also affects the flying skill of your wingmen - they get smarter at harder difficulties, so Rookie may not always be the best choice for everyone.

2) Ships are generally more deadly in Standoff than in WCP/SO... this means that having numbers on your side will help significantly - try to preserve your wingman, and make good use of your missiles to quickly even the odds at the start of larger battles.

 

[Enji]

Yeah well, I think that it is the ship count throughout the campaign that makes it hard...

For instance that mission where the 2 poor rapiers get jumped by a dozen gothri I lost almost everyone, and tried again and again... I noticed only later that there were still plenty of fighters to finish.

The next 2 missions were a real milk run in comparison (the 2 kamekhs and the ralatha)

And to answer PospiclePete, I really really like the WC2 "look and feel"... It is trully awsome to hear those old tunes, especially that good old "torpedo getting lock" theme when attacking the ralatha. I enjoyed it even more than on WC2 because flak guns were really terrifying contrary to WC2

I didnt try, but could the ralatha have been destroyed using guns ? That is something I did not like in WC3 and 4. Cap ships should require torps

 

[Dundradal]

I didnt try, but could the ralatha have been destroyed using guns ? That is something I did not like in WC3 and 4. Cap ships should require torps

Only Kamekhs and Dorkathi can be destroyed using guns/missiles. All the larger capships require torpedoes to destroy their components.

 

[Eder]

Yup. Our system is still more similar to WCP/SO than to WC2... you can't lock a torpedo onto ships that can be destroyed with guns and missiles.. and the ships which do require torpedoes will require at least one torpedo per vital component (engines, bridge, and such)

That also means it is possible for a torpedo to not do any damage, for example if you pick a poor approach angle and your torpedo ends up hitting a non-component part of the hull on its way to the component it had locked on to.

 

[Dundradal]

That also means it is possible for a torpedo to not do any damage, for example if you pick a poor approach angle and your torpedo ends up hitting a non-component part of the hull on its way to the component it had locked on to.

I can't even begin to count how many times that has happened to me in the heat of battle. You also have to be careful of where the turrets are and how far away you launch. You want to launch at a good distance but if there's a laser or flak turret that has a good line of fire there's a very high probability of it being shot down.