Hmmm...I hope this isn't the case...

from Demigod Forums

Okay, I tend to hate when people start griping about a game right off the bat.  So lemme say first off that I've enjoyed Demigod so far.  Haven't played online yet, but it's been fun.

Thing is, I'm having a bit of a problem.  I played something like a dozen games or so, and was kinda getting the hang of the basics.  Easy opponents, of course, but I was sorta figuring it out.  I was winning every game and was thinking about adding a couple slightly toughter opponents into the mix.

Then I downloaded the most recent update.

The very first game after the update, I played as Regulus.  I don't remember the setup in detail, but of the opponents was the Beast.  Late in the game, the Beast became basically undefeatable.  He'd kill me in no time flat.  I don't mean he had an edge, or that he was a challenge - I mean that it was a given that he was going to kill any demigod he came up against, and kill them quickly, to boot.  Once I went against him and when I got down to 50% health, I turned to flee and he stunned me - and I stood there motionless as he proceeded to go through the last 50% of my health in a second or so.  This happened repeatedly - the Beast got about 25 kills in a single game.  The only reason I won that one was because I had upgraded the reinforcements well enough that they destroyed the enemy citadel while I was getting my ass handed to me.

So, I assumed that some rebalancing had been done and maybe the Beast was a little too powerful now, or maybe I just needed to switch tactics.  Easy to check - I played another game as the Beast, and had Regulus as one of the opponents on the other side, easy skill level.  I figured maybe if the Beast was that easy to get kills with, I'd find out by playing it.

I got my head handed to me this time.  Lost the game, with Regulus on the other team getting more than thirty kills. I died twenty-five times or so.  Late in the game, my citadel was being attacked.  I was fighting Oak, and I was within range of my crystal.  Oak was level 20 and I was level 19.  I had upgraded the Beast, of course, but still was scoring virtually no damage and Oak almost managed to kill me, getting me down to the point where I could hear the heartbeat despite my never leaving range of the crystal.  Oak didn't have a lot of kills that game, but there were a few times where Regulus killed me in about three seconds, from full health.

Obviously, something has changed.

If it were my first time playing the game, I would just assume that I needed more practice.  If it were a case of one demigod or another being rebalanced as a bit tougher, fine.  Rebalancing happens.  But when I see the developer just granting the computer players the ability to deal damage at a rate that I can never equal, it kinda gets annoying.  I had six kills in the last game.  My computer partner had four.  All this happened right after downloading the patch.

I'm not ready to give the game up, of course, but it does seem ridiculously hard right at the moment.  As I said, I haven't played a lot, but had about a dozen or so games under my belt when this happened.  What's the reaction going to be from somebody who faces this the very first time they play the game?

demigod
6,148 views 16 replies
Reply #1 from Demigod Forums Top

Oh, and as I said, I've been enjoying the game prior to the update.  I had been waiting for this game to come out, especially after how great Supreme Commander was.  I just don't want the game to be so damn hard right off the bat.

Reply #2 from Demigod Forums Top

I'm guessing the opponent had much better equipment.

Whilst it's a good idea to do citadel upgrades, it should not be your sole focus.

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Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

Without knowing the details of how the game went down (a lot can happen in 20 levels), I'll just reiterate that equipment 'can' make that kind of difference.  Any of the demigods are ridiculously overpowered with a few of the artifacts equipped.

As long as you don't give the AI a significant cash advantage, it's still easy enough to beat.  I have no trouble mowing through hard opponents when people aren't available.

Reply #4 from Demigod Forums Top

If you had AI allies then they'll have fed the UB early on. That will have given him experience and a lot of gold. It's a bit of a chain reaction: he's got more xp and gold so he'll be stronger the next fight when the next DG meets him, which will give him more gold and xp... and eventually he'll have a couple of (infamous) artefacts which will indeed make him pretty much immortal.

The UB is the most likely candidate for this to happen to due to the way that bots decide when to run. They don't take the UB's spit into account very well when deciding where to fight on or to run, and end up dying early on, which sets the chain in motion. It can happen with any DG though, i've seen it with Regulus, Oak, and even QoT.

This is not an uncommon sight in matches with some AI's as i've noted here:

http://forums.demigodthegame.com/350597

Note the AI labled 'Leo'.

Reply #5 from Demigod Forums Top

Were you equipped with any special weapons from the item/artifact shops?

 

Citadel upgrades should be done after you've amped yourself with the necessary equipments and skills and potions..

and are you sure you didn't change the opponents to hard oppenents? Also, it could be you just haven't found the suitable stradegy for the characters yet. There are a lot to factor in, in this case. Try playing a few more games, with the same character and try different stragdeis (sp?).

 

Reply #6 from Demigod Forums Top

Hmm.  Well, I am sure that I didn't accidentally set the opponents to hard.  Remember, I did this twice.

I will admit that one aspect of the game I haven't explored fully has been the artifacts and items.  I started buying an emergency teleport scroll after seeing how often the computer uses the things, and I've bought an odd mana-generating item or two before, but not often.  One game I bought a combat artifact late in the game when I was flush with cash and the game was pretty much decided in my favor.  My cash usually goes to citadel enhancements.


TurielD, that's exactly what happened the first game I played after the update.  I was sitting there, leveling and making some progress but cursing the damn computer UB for killing demigods at will in no time flat, when my reinforcements took out the opponents' citadel.  The second game was even worse - I never really made it past neutral, and it seemed like Regulus had a slight advantage against me early on that only grew into a ridiculous overmatch by the end of the game.  I never really saw the lethality of UB when I was playing him.

I'll try to be more item-minded in the next game.  I was just kinda suspicious because it was such a drastic schooling and it happened right after the update.

Reply #7 from Demigod Forums Top

Something that some people haven't mentioned yet is that I'm pretty sure there've been no changes to game balance or AI.  With all the problems with connectivity, all of the devs have been scrambling to fix that before they look at things like that.  So the good news is I doubt it has anything to do with today's patch, especially since I've heard (Not from anywhere official) that today's patch was just a pre-patch.  SO, that's the reason nobody is pointing to the patch, because the chances are that that's not the problem and something else is going on.

Reply #8 from Demigod Forums Top

When you play against AI most of the time it comes down to gold.  Nightmare AI is very easy when you are careful and don't die early on, which just gives them money.

 

If you die too many times early on, they will get much better equipment and you will have no chance.  Funnily enough this applies to multiplayer as well, so it's a good learning experience.

Reply #9 from Demigod Forums Top

I can see the bracelet of rage doing this. If i play well as UB and get a cash advantage, once i pop the bracelet (use: +300 dmg for 10 secs, passive +50 dmg, 45sec cooldown, 14000g) my target gets ripped to shreds in seconds. I can't remember the last time anyone survived that. I remember once when I had just started playing DG. We were getting murdered by a Rook 5 levels higher who waded through our defenses with sedna on his back, and we just couldn't bring him down no matter what we did. I managed to get the 14k and went around to cap the artifact flag, got the bracelet of rage and started tearing Rook up in seconds. Noone in that game got away from me alive after that.

Reply #10 from Demigod Forums Top

Okay, thanks for the suggestions, folks.  I just played another game - I had the UB with the QoT as my ally against Regulus and Sedna, on Crucible with standard settings - all computer players easy.  Skipped the citadel upgrades early on and saved my $$$ for artifacts; I only spent cash on teleport scrolls until then.  Got that fire cloak, the Cloak of Elfinkind and (at the end) the Ring of the Allfather.  Nice little combo, although I suppose saving that kind of cash is unrealistic in most games.  Anybody have any idea what use the Cloak of Elfinkind's warp ability is?  It has a tiny, short little range to it.  It isn't even far enough to jump gaps on the map.  Good boosts to stats, though.

Anyway, concentrating on the artifacts was the way to go.  I guess that was the problem; it's funny that it was never a problem until right after I updated the game, but who knows.  I suppose it's just coincedence.

Early game on that map is still annoyingly oriented at that one little No-Man's-Land between the two sides, but once that goes it seems like the game is almost decided.

Reply #11 from Demigod Forums Top

Honestly if you can not die, you can easily win against Nightmare opponents without artifacts and just buying citadel upgrades.  This is particularly true if you can hold the flags so you warscore is significantly higher.

 

Again... same thing applies to multiplayer

Reply #12 from Demigod Forums Top

Hmmm.  I guess I need to move up to a bit harder opponents next game.  I also need to read up on warscore and stuff like that.  The documentation for this game is atrociously thin.  I was expecting more in-game help, either a tutorial or some kind of help files, but no such luck.  All I can tell is that warscore level determines the maximum level of citadel upgrade you can buy regardless of whether you can afford higher, but you sound like you're telling me that holding flags over time raises your warscore level.

And who was the genius that didn't put a damn pause button on the thing?  Time rolls on regardless of whether I'm in a menu or whatever.  Or am I an idiot and I'm missing a pause key somewhere?

Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top

There is an option that you can check to enable pause. It is in the lobby, you click Advanced Settings or Game Options or something. Hit ESC instead of F10 to pause and bring up the menu.

Reply #14 from Demigod Forums Top

Okay, I'll give that a try.  Thanks.  The dogs started barking frantically to go out and I had to send the UB to hang out by the crystal while I took the dogs out.  Plus, it's kinda annoying to have to wait half an hour to go pee sometimes.

Reply #15 from Demigod Forums Top

Your main problem in single player will end up being your own AI, even when your AI is on nightmare and so is theirs, it just seems like your AI behaves worse.

 

I played a game where regalus on my team just stayed at the base for 80% of the game ;/..

 

Regarding the pause thing, you need to change this in the game options before you start it, you can put this on infinite so you can pause as much as you like.  You can also make the game speed adjustable so you can speed up or slow down parts of the game with +/- on your keypad.

Reply #16 from Demigod Forums Top

Christ.  ANOTHER extremely useful tip.  This is why there should have been a proper tutorial.  Supreme Commander had very useful tutorials for a very deep RTS game.  This shouldn't have been any different.  Oh well - now I know.  Thanks!