187 lines
8.9 KiB
Plaintext
187 lines
8.9 KiB
Plaintext
POI DIFFICULTY & TIERS
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POI challenge is an important aspect of the game that individuals, server
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operators, and overhaul mod makers all face. There's a lot of factors that go
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into what constitutes a challenge for players. Consider:
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* Player Knowledge & Experience (newb vs veteran)
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* Player Physical Capability (reaction time, motor skills, vision, hearing)
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* Player Technical Limitations (hardware, graphics settings, network connection)
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* Play Style (cautious vs aggressive vs reckless)
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* Player Tactics (noisy vs stealth; follows path vs doesn't follow path)
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* Number of Players (solo vs group)
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* Game Stage (available equipment and ammo)
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* Game Difficulty Settings (easy vs hard vs OMG)
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* Game Time (day or night)
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* Game Type (vanilla vs overhaul)
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* POI Zed Placement (overt vs covert vs improbable)
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* POI Zed Encounter Size (number of Zeds per Volume)
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* POI Zed Difficulty (crawlers vs walkers vs exploding Zeds)
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* POI Zed Encounter Design (can retreat vs trapped)
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* POI Zed Density (Zeds per Volume and Volume size)
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* POI Vertical Travel (Zed volume activation quirks)
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* POI Ambush Volumes (Zed volumes that self-activate Zeds)
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* POI Traps (use of unstable blocks, spikes, mines)
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A player's enjoyment of a POI is going to depend on all that. How could a POI
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designer possibly claim "balance" when most of the factors are out of their
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control?
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WHAT ARE VANILLA POIS?
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I cannot speak for the TFP Design Team. My opinion is they're intended to be of
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easy to moderate difficulty. In the early tiers, punches are pulled. That makes
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them trivial to many veteran players. Around tier 3 things start to get more
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serious, but the target audience is never those who are looking for an extreme
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challenge. In my opinion, that's great because few players really want an
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extreme challenge. For most, stepping up the game difficulty has them
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adequately covered so Vanilla POIs hit the sweet spot.
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If you're mixing in other modlets (or overhauls) the Vanilla POIs are the lowest
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common demoninator. That is, you'll never have enough POIs if you don't use
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them in your maps, so you're going to tune your game with Vanilla POIs in mind.
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Typically, progression turns Zeds into bullet sponges. Bullet sponges make you
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reload more often giving Zeds more of a chance to close the distance and hit
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you. POIs that use larger encounter sizes (more Zeds per volume) get a bit more
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difficult if you didn't plan for an egress or get trapped.
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SHOULD ALL POIS MATCH VANILLA?
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I don't think so. A player, or server operator, who is looking to apply modlets
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to the game is neither likely to be a new player, nor looking to host players
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who will fit into the "newb" category for long. The question is really how much
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more difficult should they be? In my opinion, there are two groups to satisfy.
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First, there are players who are enthusiastic about the game and want to
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continue at a vanilla-like level. They're likely capable of a bit more
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difficulty because they are not new players but they're not looking to be run
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down and overwhelmed. (This is my target audience.)
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Then, there are those who are looking for an extreme challenge. They're either
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of the mindset that they can take anything the game throws at them or they're
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people who get a laugh out of death in glorious fashion.
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WHAT ARE POI TIERS?
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While it is tempting to think of Tiers as a measure of difficulty, they're
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really inadequate for that task. Most conventions rate tiers based on the total
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number of Zeds in a POI. All that really tells you is the body count necessary
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to complete the mission. Designers generally take it easier on the player with
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tiers 1 and 2. The dirty tricks become more common in tiers 4 and 5.
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ARE THESE POIS APPROPRIATE FOR MY DESIRED GAME?
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Only you can answer that. I suggest you review the following information as
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part of making your own assessment.
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I did a study of zombie density in December 2022. I compared a number of POI
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modlets based on "density", which to me is the maximum number of Zeds in a POI
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divided by the number of Zombie Volumnes. (Density = Max-Zeds / Volumes) While
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not perfect (as discussed above) I believe it is a better measure than a Tier
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value based on just Max-Zeds. There's a built in assumption with density that
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an encouter is just a single zombie volume being activated. Player Tactics
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and POI traps mess up that assumption, but it is a metric that is feasible to
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calculate.
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As a result of that study, I summized:
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Density
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TFP Vanilla 1-2 Zeds per Volume
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Deverezieaux Modlet 3-5 Zeds per Volume
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ZZTong Modlet 4-5 Zeds per Volume
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Darkness Falls PEP 4-8 Zeds per Volume
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CompoPack 48.5 5-11 Zeds per Volume
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Note that evaluating the CompoPack as one unit is not an accurate reflection
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of any particular POI designer found within the CompoPack.
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Based on those results I felt I was missing my goal of being "Vanilla
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Friendly", specifically at Tiers 1 and 2. I decided to revise my
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Modlet with the following goal:
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DENSITY GOAL DENSITY RANGE
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Tier 1 2.0 1.5 - 2.5
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Tier 2 3.0 2.5 - 3.5
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Tier 3 4.0 3.5 - 4.5
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Tier 4 5.0 4.5 - 5.5
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Tier 5 6.0+ 5.5+
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I also decided to continue to use the CompoPack Tier definitions as they work
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fine and they are the only guidance available.
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ZOMBIES TIER
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0- 4 0
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5-15 1
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16-30 2
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31-45 3
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46-60 4
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61+ 5
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And, after having tried to conform to both this density goal and the CompoPack
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tiers. I felt both goals worked well enough at Tiers 1 and 2. At Tier 3 I found
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it hard sometimes to pack the zombies in as tight and stay within the tier.
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Plainly stated, while a higher tier enjoys being able to make a more difficult
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encounter, it doesn't mean the majority of encounters should scale as high.
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When that happens, you fall short of the goal.
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Thus, the Density Goal found above should be viewed less rigorously at higher
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tiers. Indeed, if you take the number of Zeds allowed for a tier and divide it
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by the density goal, you only end up with a certain number of zombie volumes
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that you can use. This gets to be constraining the higher you go into the tiers
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and you'll have to abandon the idead of an increasing density goal.
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And so, my conclusion here is Density is important, but it isn't everything
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except perhaps at Tier 1-2, and maybe 3.
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TRIGGERS
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Zombie volumes that are triggered by some event have been around for many
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versions, but their use became more common to Vanilla POIs starting in A20
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and ramping up significantly in A21. I suspect this happened in response to
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player calls for more difficulty at higher tiers. But triggers have also been
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a point of criticism by players, as players don't get an opportunity to
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outsmart or outmaneuver triggered zombies. Thus, players who crave a slow,
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methodical stealth adventure are often denied a stealthy conclusion to a POI
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or have no choice but to face an ambush they worked hard to disarm. Other
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players resent having zombies spawn behind the player in areas that have been
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previously cleared.
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There can be technical issues with triggers. When POIs are only installed on
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the server and not the client, some triggers do not fire unless the trigger
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object is destroyed. This is yet another subtle issue with POIs not being
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installed on the client.
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Because of these issues, my current approach to triggers is to use them
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lightly. This likely makes my upper tier POIs easier than vanilla POIs.
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WHAT IS THE COMPOPACK?
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I think the way people view the CompoPack influences their opinion of it.
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My preferred mindset for the CompoPack (CP) is that it is a library. Download
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it and use the POIs you like. As a library, the CP provides a public service
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allowing you to access nearly every POI ever created by the community. And,
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the CP team keeps those POIs up-to-date with the latest version of the game.
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That is a massive amount of work that I think deserves appreciation. I
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contribute my POIs to the CompoPack so they'll hopefully be around even if I
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no longer am.
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If you use the entire CP then you must be aware you are getting some POIs that
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are designed for an extreme challenge. You're choosing to view the CompoPack
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as a single playable modlet. If that is what you want, and you're stepping
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into that world with your eyes open, then Rock On! Otherwise, you're destined
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for a rude awakening. Those who design extreme POIs are trying to trap,
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overwhelm, and kill you. Even the best of players get forced to flee. If
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you're new to those POIs, I suggest you don't enter them alone. Bring friends,
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bring ammo, be able to move quickly, and don't be reckless.
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WHAT ABOUT ZOMBIES FOUND OUTSIDE OF POIS?
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Some people consider this a sign of a bad POI design because it is uncommonly
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done in Vanilla POIs. My opinion is it is a technique best used sparingly
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because it can lead to Zeds uselessly spawning as Players pass them by when
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traveling. However, it is perfectly valid. TFP does it in several POIs and
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Tiles. I wish people would quit poo-pooing the practice.
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