Getting oil boost after completing campaign level

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Tiberian_
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Getting oil boost after completing campaign level

Post by Tiberian_ »

I've found that getting a huge resource boost upon completing a campaign level to be fairly disconcerting, there's no feedback as to why it happened and it seems to make resource management redundant, at least in early campaigns like alpha 1-2

Playing on development version I ended alpha 1 with 200 oil and began alpha 2 with around 4200.

What are others opinions on this?
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Berserk Cyborg
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Re: Getting oil boost after completing campaign level

Post by Berserk Cyborg »

The main reason for a large oil boost after the end of missions is that bonus oil is rewarded by completing missions earlier rather than later. Previously a player would have to wait out the timer to get large amounts of oil. I personally feel that some missions give too time and thus render the timer useless (and leads to a bonus oil exploit situation if you are a fast player). If anyone has a reasonable time limit for any mission or a new bonus oil algorithm, then please share.
Per
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Re: Getting oil boost after completing campaign level

Post by Per »

Berserk Cyborg wrote:The main reason for a large oil boost after the end of missions is that bonus oil is rewarded by completing missions earlier rather than later. Previously a player would have to wait out the timer to get large amounts of oil. I personally feel that some missions give too time and thus render the timer useless (and leads to a bonus oil exploit situation if you are a fast player). If anyone has a reasonable time limit for any mission or a new bonus oil algorithm, then please share.
It would be nice just with some feedback to the user why he/she just got that huge power boost.
Tiberian_
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Re: Getting oil boost after completing campaign level

Post by Tiberian_ »

Berserk Cyborg wrote:The main reason for a large oil boost after the end of missions is that bonus oil is rewarded by completing missions earlier rather than later. Previously a player would have to wait out the timer to get large amounts of oil. I personally feel that some missions give too time and thus render the timer useless (and leads to a bonus oil exploit situation if you are a fast player). If anyone has a reasonable time limit for any mission or a new bonus oil algorithm, then please share.
That's a fair point. Maybe it would be better to reduce the mission timer for earlier missions (alpha 1 doesn't need an hour to be completed by any measure) and award less bonus oil for early completion?
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NoQ
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Re: Getting oil boost after completing campaign level

Post by NoQ »

While most timers on most levels can be reduced to 15-20 levels (as in my walkthrough), we should not modify the original campaign so significantly. Moreover, many casual players find even the current limits challenging.

I agree that visual indication for early finish bonus is necessary.

I also agree that adjustable time limits (easy, classic, hard, brutal) would be great.
Tiberian_
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Re: Getting oil boost after completing campaign level

Post by Tiberian_ »

How is the oil bonus currently worked out? is it just a static boost or is it based upon time remaining and derricks that the player has?

Difficulty levels would be really cool given that currently you receive a huge amount of resources for completing each level
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Berserk Cyborg
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Re: Getting oil boost after completing campaign level

Post by Berserk Cyborg »

Tiberian_ wrote:How is the oil bonus currently worked out? is it just a static boost or is it based upon time remaining and derricks that the player has?
It is based on remaining time with a 25% bonus.
Spoiler:
Tiberian_
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Re: Getting oil boost after completing campaign level

Post by Tiberian_ »

that leads to a lot of oil if you finish a mission quick. I guess this is more balanced in later campaigns when units cost a lot more?
Difficulty levels would definitely be a way to go. Could a campaign modifier be added so the player isn't given a huge amount of oil by alpha 2?

This is all based on my experience on the development version, of course. Others may have different opinions
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NoQ
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Re: Getting oil boost after completing campaign level

Post by NoQ »

People used to beat levels in 15 minutes and then wait for an hour or two to mine all the oil they wanted. Now the only difference is, they're no longer encouraged to wait. The campaign didn't become noticeably easier by introducing the early finish bonus.
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Re: Getting oil boost after completing campaign level

Post by Tiberian_ »

i managed to beat alpha 1 in about 10 mins before and got a 6000 oil bonus from it. This amount could potentially make sense later on in the game but in early alpha when a droid costs 70-100 oil this seems to make resource management redundant. Could there be some form of campaign modifier which scales the bonus to a level that seems more reasonable for an early campaign?

Maybe this is a discussion more along the lines of implementing timers and resource bonus modifiers based on difficulty level?
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Berserk Cyborg
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Re: Getting oil boost after completing campaign level

Post by Berserk Cyborg »

There is a campaign difficulty modifier in the options menu. Why not just intercept the values passed into setMissionTime() and modify it based on chosen difficulty? Easy-125% Normal-100% Hard-75% Brutal-50%... And something similar for power. Thoughts?
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Re: Getting oil boost after completing campaign level

Post by friendguy13 »

Berserk Cyborg wrote:There is a campaign difficulty modifier in the options menu. Why not just intercept the values passed into setMissionTime() and modify it based on chosen difficulty? Easy-125% Normal-100% Hard-75% Brutal-50%... And something similar for power. Thoughts?
Giving harder difficulties a multiplier less than 100% would defeat the purpose of adding the oil boost in the first place (making it so that people don't have to wait around for the timer to end to get all the oil). Easy mode should get either a 125% or 100% multiplier and the rest should be a flat 100%.
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Berserk Cyborg
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Re: Getting oil boost after completing campaign level

Post by Berserk Cyborg »

friendguy13 wrote:Giving harder difficulties a multiplier less than 100% would defeat the purpose of adding the oil boost in the first place (making it so that people don't have to wait around for the timer to end to get all the oil). Easy mode should get either a 125% or 100% multiplier and the rest should be a flat 100%.
I was referring to what is now the generic cookie-cutter number modifier function, camChangeOnDiff(). It is used to modify mission timers, enemy factory throttles, and anything time based depending on the chosen difficulty.

Power income rate currently is 115%->100%->85%->70% (from easy to insane). The oil bonus modifier is 110% for easy/normal, 105% for hard, and a flat 100% for insane.
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