[BETA 1] First impressions

[holepercent]

finally had some time to play a few games...

played chaos random... liked the new chaos... although i frequently had doubles.. i had double darkness, double healing, double fast etc.. there was another part where i had 3 water lvls in 5... didn't seem very random...

random didn't seem very random... in all 3 games i had darkness and plenty of interest.. and nature lvl 1,something else, nature 2 and nature 3 for 3rd-7th lumber in one game... i feel that the darkness tower is much weaker compared to the other amplified towers...

overall it's a good beta. the game is harder and more challenging now.

on a side note: is there any changes to the movespeed? i feel that the creeps are moving faster than 3.0

also, if you are already on random mode (using host options) and still type -random before lvl 5, it should not show the usual text. possible to add a line that says you are already on random mode?

[Guest mrchak]

Well, statistically, there's like a 1/7 chance that each round will be a repeat of the same armor as the previous round. So in a 30 round game, you're likely to have the same armor type back-to-back roughly 4 times.

As far as classification (healing, fast etc) I don't know what the % chances are, but a similar reasoning would predict the same classification in back-to-back rounds once or twice per game.

This raises the question of whether we want to disallow repeats in Chaos mode. Repeated rounds (i.e. darkness back to back) makes the game easier, and if chaos is supposed to be a challenge, maybe it follows that rounds shouldn't repeat back-to-back.

[holepercent]

i don't really think we need to disallow repeats. it's chaos mode. but i think the randomization needs some balancing. doubles were occurring TOO often in the games i played.

another part of the challenge comes from deciding on a build that will handle whatever wave that comes reasonably. tech towers, for instance, need to be built at lightning speed when the next level is mech and sold rapidly on random. on pick, you would need to decide on the benefits of extra lifes for mech and whether is the dmg worth it on other lvls.

[Guest Sancdar]

I think the randomization is plenty random, it's just you generally notice when there's a double and you don't when there's not.

[holepercent]

maybe it's true that doubles are easier to notice in a group of randoms. but i think that randomization can be improved to give less doubles.

something quite minor: in chaos mode, when you click on the creeps, it still shows the non-chaos level of the creeps (the original sequence lvl). not sure if that can be reprogrammed to show the current level as this would be different every game of chaos?

has anyone tested the beta on multiplayer? possible to testers to meet up to play a few games to test?

[Guest mrchak]

I think the randomization is plenty random, it's just you generally notice when there's a double and you don't when there's not.

Yes, I agree, its just statistics. So what we're saying, we don't want the game to actually make the chaos mode LESS random (have rules so repeats are not allowed, etc) so that it SEEMS more random to the player? That's what I'm hearing. I'm fine with that. Chaos is randomized, so it will make some levels harder, once in a while you'll get a break and get some easy stuff back to back, etc.. Its just the nature of randomization.

Question: Does anybody play Chaos mode without having elements picked Randomly?

[echinodermata]

The thing about random is: You never know.

[Cisz]

I didn't play the new chaos on pick, but if I don't go lfwd/lfwn, there is no reason it shouldn't prove interesting.

[Guest Sancdar]

Multiple composite levels in a row mid-late game is the only thing that throws me in the new chaos. Those things are tough

[Guest minddrifter]

I like the new chaos mode. I also like the old one. I also think it would be really cool to mix the two as well. Being able to choose between 3 different chaos modes would be fun.

The only "bug" I've noticed is after building a flesh tower and it moves, you can build where the flesh tower was originally built, but if you try to build where the flesh tower was first built after you have upgraded the flesh tower, it was an empty unbuildable space. So far the beta seems really smooth! Can't wait for Beta2.