A good run would still be possible, just not easily save - scummable. A run where every plot - related factor is on the player's side is likely to have a greater number of harder enemies to counterbalance that.Atarlost wrote:That's precisely why it's not desirable. Future outcomes become weighted and that makes the game less interesting. The lure of a potential good run is a major part of what keeps people playing roguelikes.JohnBWatson wrote:Mathematically, it would come to a balance over time, as low luck would lead to outcomes that increase future luck.Atarlost wrote:Persistent negative luck feedback would wreck the game experience. You'd lose the sense of discovery that's key to roguelikes because your long term outcomes would cease to be random.
That's not in the slightest what I was suggesting. Dynamic difficulty punishes the player for doing well. I suggested weighting rolls on game start based on the outcome of previous rolls to make difficulty more balanced across games.I agree. I dislike rubber-band or dynamic difficulty.
Come to think of it, this could also work as some manner of challenge mode unlocked after a permadeath run. Make 'enemies spawned(quantity)', 'enemies spawned(difficulty)', 'friendlies spawned', 'loot provided', and 'misc. rolls' modify themselves based on an adjustable slider from their initial point towards the more difficult extreme, and provide score multipliers for the player based on this. Increasing the first makes enemies more likely to spawn and increases the frequency of hostile random encounters. Increasing the second makes higher - grade hostiles spawn earlier on, for example, the Urak fortresses could begin appearing in the New Beyond instead, as could the Heliotropes. Lowering the third would reduce the number of friendly stations spawned across Human Space, lowering the fourth would decrease the cash value of loot per station, and lowering the fifth would make things like getting busted by the police more likely.
It'd add replayability, and give people from earlier versions some nostalgia by letting them meet the Heliotropes back in an area where their weapons were actually relevant.
I think the waste cannon ought to be better balanced as a whole. A major aspect of this is fixing the AI so that irradiated, petra'd, and podded ships go home to their stations to get fixed up. This would also make it more balanced to allow the player to install one early on.Even excluding mods, standard game has waste cannon. A lucky player could get one in the first system, and a less lucky player can still make one at the Tinkers before St. K's sometimes. Normally, when player can install a waste cannon past St. K's, it is good solely for the radiation effect (which is very useful against Ferian miners and some enemies). Waste cannon would be very strong before St. K's because it has above average DPS for a level 4 blast weapon, and it is an excellent screen against incoming enemy fire.
