make the late game more challenging
issueid=2349 09-18-2013 02:25 PM
Senior Member
Number of reported issues by gosos: 21
make the late game more challenging
Im a relative noob here and have asked alot of questions. died massive amounts in the early game. However, once I hit the casino, Im basically the terminator. Its like I'm going through the motions for the rest of the game just to finish. Most of the time I just stop out of boredom. I have noticed other people say the same thing. I think the late game should be HARDER than the early game. Some ideas other than 'buff the mobs'. by this part of the game you are used to your race/class combo and understand the mechanics.

1. make the game more tactical late game. you have to slow down and think about what you do. so make it less forgiving.
2. buff creating traps. this would be part of the tactical part of the game. creating traps to corner tough mobs. forces you to slow down and think about the situation.
3. alot more vaults. multiple smaller vaults on 1 level. add vaults to just about every level after the casino
4. more out of depth monsters
5. significantly increase the spawn and respawn rate as you go down the CoC. make people use all those scrolls and potions we accumulate.
6. gods can buff monsters. so most mobs are evil right? they can get crowned, artifacts too. happens in later game and can pray.
7. monsters attack in a smarter way. for example guys with range attacks never approach you and stay back.
8. monsters can use potions, wands, spellbooks, and scrolls (depends on the mob)
9. monsters can cast earthquake, etc...
10. monsters have EQ that they use. so a barbarian and such can be stronger since it may have better eq in some situations.

most roguelikes are like this. insanely difficult early, then grind to finish late.
Issue Details
Issue Number 2349
Issue Type Feature
Project ADOM (Ancient Domains Of Mystery)
Category All
Status Suggested
Priority 5 - Medium
Suggested Version ADOM 1.2.0 pre 17
Implemented Version (none)
Milestone (none)
Votes for this feature 1
Votes against this feature 1
Attachments 0
Assigned Users (none)
Tags (none)




09-18-2013 02:57 PM
Ancient Member
3. Vaults don't really make the game harder... They're avoidable, so you can just do the easy ones and skip the ones you don't want to do. They give lots of experience and items.
4. Implemented already to an extent via 1116. I haven't played enough endgame characters to have a good sense of how strong this effect is, but from what little I've seen, there is a definite improvement.
5. Not a bad idea.
6. Monsters don't have inventories. Having them use artifacts is a problem if they can drop those artifacts, anyway. Monsters with access to piety would be cool though.
7. Won't work as well as you'd expect, since an endgame PC is faster than most monsters. They'll spend all their time running away and you can hit them from behind. Also, with the exception of titans and a few other monsters, most monster ranged attacks are quite pitiful compared to their melee.
8. Monsters don't have inventories, so this won't work without significant changes.
9. Improved monster spellcasting would be cool. I don't know about earthquake specifically, since that spell is kind of lame, but I get the idea. Part of the problem is that a lot of spells that work well for the PC wouldn't work well for monsters. A monster that could acid ball would be interesting, except that it would destroy all of the monsters around it as well. Having a few monsters that could cast Petrification might spice up the endgame a bit though ;)
10. See #8.
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09-19-2013 05:19 AM
Ancient Member
I think the late game should be HARDER than the early game.
I disagree with this.

In a long game with permadeath, like ADOM, dying in the late game is really frustrating because you have spent a lot of real-time hours in it.

I think the current balance, where the late game is easier than the early game, is good. It's what DM's typically do in tabletop D&D (which are also long games with permadeath): they ruthlessly kill characters if they make mistakes when they are level 3 or 4, but they are much more forgiven with epic characters that have reached a great level and are fighting ancient dragons.

This is not to say that the late game shouldn't be buffed a bit. But I think the goal shouldn't be making it harder than the early game. Not even of equal difficulty as the early game. It should be easier, only maybe a bit less than it is now.
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09-21-2013 12:52 PM
Ancient Member
I agree with JellySlayer. If anything, the late game should have an illusion of being harder and be actually easier.
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