Easy, Normal, Hard, Very Hard Setting
 

Looks to me that on top of the usual boxes we can check, unlimited fuel, outside views etc., the drop down list of easy, normal, hard, very hard affects the amount of contacts and the aggressiveness of AI. I played very hard and contacts were very few. I went for days without radioed in convoys or seeing single merchants. I tried on the hard setting, I got some more contacts and mostly Allied vessels. After 5 days I got a radioed message on a task force. I set up my ambush. Sunk a destroyer and a carrier. Two DD found me in short order and sunk me. Not quite the same DD I had in easy mode.

Switch your game play to hard or very hard. I'm interested in finding out if you are seeing what I'm seeing. It looks to me like the developers worked on AI and contact via the selection of easy, normal, hard and very hard. Check it out and tell me what you see.

I think we agree on this one Hawk. I'm playing on "hard" settings. Last night I was sent to the coast of Japan. Very few contact reports. One TF and one convoy. I did however bump into 2 passenger liners, one old and one new, sailing together. I picked them up on the sonar whilst travelling submerged in daylight. These contacts did not appear on the map.:p

edit. I forgot, I did come across a coastal merchant in the same area a few hours later. Again picked up on sonar, not from the map contacts.

Exactly. Now I suspect the lesser radioed contacts the less the clipboard will fill up.

Ahhh...not tried that, i'm using the clipboard MOD. I'll turn it off and see what happens tonight:D

Yeah, I got the clipboard mod also. I give that go as well. I seem to be finding more depth to the game than SH3 in respect to game play and how we can set it up to our liking:yep:

I am playing very hard, 100% realism and Dize's campaign mod which reduces traffic.

I'm on the 20th day of my 1st patrol, april 1943 near Truk. I am getting about 3-5 enemy contact reports per day, single ships, TFs, convoys, scattered throughout the Pacific.

I just ran into my 1st ship, Junk, 2 tons, which my crew dispatched with the deck gun.

How does this stack up with what other people are experiencing?

You have a few more contacts then me but I guess it depends where you are. Your patrol sounds about right, like I'm experiencing. I think very hard gives fewer contacts and perhaps this mod for reduced radio traffic may not be needed.

Do you think the base diff level is a modifier on the % chance of the random spawns in the campaign layers, kinda like the quality of an airbase modifies its chances of sending planes your way?

Good question, one I think the devs can help us on. I'll ask for some info on this, no reason we should have to guess.

good hunting!
Neal

I'm saying yes. I'm finding more depth in the thinking behind the easy, normal, hard, very hard. I'm also thinking AI is randomly smart or very dump. So far with hard selected, the AI are very tough and somewhat realistic. In easy mode they run away:o. There is definitly some thought behind the AI...we just are finding out at this point.

Thanks developers at UBI!!!!! I'm finding more good things everyday!!!!!!!

The more I read about these things people are finding that didn't make it into the manual the more I think SH4 needs a huge FAQ or supplementary manual.

I'm playing on very hard and I still get a lot of radio reports and the japanese DDs are deaf and blind pacifists.


IMO the different difficulty settings only govern which options are ticked from the start. I haven't noticed any real difference between "easy" and "very hard", as far as the enemy Ai is concerned.

Yes, might be. This is what we are trying to find out. Definitly something going on with these settings. I switched to very hard and all of a sudden the sea is dead with few contacts. Were are you patrolling? I in Celebes Sea and really have to hunt them down.

One other thing. In the options page if you change your settings before starting the game I believe it reverts back to your original settings on you last save. When in your office before mission, change the options there and they will not change from loading to loading. So I'm wondering if you changed will in game and perhaps the change to very hard did not take.

I will be testing some more today:yep:

I've played on hard from day one ... it's been a challenge, but I'm getting better at it. :)

:up: Another one experiencing what I'm seeing:yep:

Do you experience fewer contacts and DD that are aggressive?

The problem with learning the mission editor is that I can instantly see how little attention was paid to history. Open scripted stuff like the opening war in the philipines/NEI, and there are as many DDs in that one mission as the entire IJN actually had, and more than half are a type that wasn't in service (odd, since ALL the other DDs they made are actually appropriate choices had they used them).

I'd probably change your history rating from 9/10 to .9/10, Neal ;)

Course I'm a stickler, but the errors are pretty gross, and not required given all the stuff they made to chose from. The tools are mostly there, though some actual dynamism in the campaigns is really required to make this thing sing. Not war-altering stuff, just the ability to maintain a list of sunk ships, and pass it fropm one patrol to the next so that the list of sunk ships gets subtracted from the available pool. Seems like they have a start there in the Roster files, but they never got it finished. If that is never on the plate to fix/add, I'm not sure how long I'll maintain interest, I can't do a campaign and see 3 Yamatos, or Fusos, (or someday Kagas or Akagis with mods) and suspend disbelief.

tater

I can't say for sure what the contact ratio is because I've nothing to experience it by, in that I've never played on easy or any other setting other than hard. So it's all the same to me.

I get radio calls a plenty while on missions. I usually start in the Phillippines with an S class.

DDs in my careers have truely sucked ... last night I got sent to Davey's locker because while I was taking pop shots with my deck gun at a stalled DD, his brother ran my ass over! Hit me in the sail and rocked my boat. His BTW ... didn't survive and blew up and sunk off my stern. (I got no credit for this sinking.) However this DD put a hurtin on me and I went to the bottom. My crews couldn't repair fast enough.

Other encounters have caused DDs to chase me for a good couple NMs while trying to avoid them. A real palm sweater.

I've just tried my saved campaign (hard setting) turning off the clipboard MOD and the aircraft MOD. I was instanly attacked, at night, in a pea soup mist by two aircraft.:cry:

Your experience is the DD are good when game set on hard? Aggressive? Do not run away like some say they do?

:hmm: If you feel like doing this, do not change your fuel, outside view set-up etc., just change the drop down to easy. See how the DD act then. If you do it let us know if you see a difference.

Same here. Never selected anything except Very Hard. Although I have encountered non patsy DD's.

I agree that difficulty is simply a template for option selections.