Restoring the challenge to single player

[Incompetent]

This is a general idea, but in Abe we can actually do something about it.

It's well-known that, for some players at least, playing a sensible game as a major power in SP just doesn't cut it, because the AI doesn't pose enough of a challenge. These players tend to start playing minor countries or going for WC, but that way they miss out on all the storyline.

But there are two ways we as modders can go to make something harder than 'Very Hard':

1. AI cheat events to make the AI countries stronger
2. Masochism events to make the player country weaker

1. has been put into practice in many mods, particularly those by Daywalker and IDLF. From what I've heard, it's been quite successful; I suggest we work on some simple AI cheats for where the AI seems to be flagging (eg badboy management) that will be easy to implement.

2. is a bit different, because it allows the player to control how much extra punishment they get. Something like this:

'Player complains that the game is too easy' (1419)
- No, the game is hard enough as it is, thank you!: does nothing
- Yes, punish me!: gives whopping inflation, badboy and -VP

and then the event is repeated every 50 years or so. Basically the player can take some of the punishment events, but at some point most players will decide that their life is hard enough and give themselves a break; alternatively, players might find their game hard at first, but then find they're cruising towards the end and use this event to knock themselves back a bit.

Both of these would of course be optional - many players like to play as is and don't need us to ratchet up the difficulty, and certainly the MP crowd don't want AI countries interfering too much with play. But it's there for people who want to give themselves a handicap.

 

[unmerged(36826)]

The player self harm is a good idea, the HOI CORE mod does that and seems to work well, although does giving -VPs actually do anything? You could also push the player to decentralised, quantity or naval for even more fun. A couple of random conversions would also really improve the difficulty(not sure if you can do this). You might want to have a few layers of choices
1) "The AI already scares me" (does nothing)
2) "Maybe a little harder" (Inflation, Badboy -1 stab)
3) "I can handle it" (Moderate Inflation and Badboy, Couple of bad DP sliders, -stab, 1 random conversion to a heretic religion)
4) "Haha I laugh in the AI's face and spit at the Badboy system" (Major Inflation and Badboy, -4 stab, burns down a manu, adds +2 Revolt Risk for a few years, 5 negative DP sliders etc etc)
Just a few ideas

 

[Incompetent]

The player self harm is a good idea, the HOI CORE mod does that and seems to work well, although does giving -VPs actually do anything? You could also push the player to decentralised, quantity or naval for even more fun. A couple of random conversions would also really improve the difficulty(not sure if you can do this). You might want to have a few layers of choices
1) "The AI already scares me" (does nothing)
2) "Maybe a little harder" (Inflation, Badboy -1 stab)
3) "I can handle it" (Moderate Inflation and Badboy, Couple of bad DP sliders, -stab, 1 random conversion to a heretic religion)
4) "Haha I laugh in the AI's face and spit at the Badboy system" (Major Inflation and Badboy, -4 stab, burns down a manu, adds +2 Revolt Risk for a few years, 5 negative DP sliders etc etc)
Just a few ideas

-VP is for players who use VP as some kind of yardstick: it means if you still win on VP even with the masochism, you've really whooped the AI.

Great ideas on the penalties (though some countries will actually want decentralised, quantity and naval!) and yes, a graded system is a very good idea. Some players will want us to practically destroy their country so they can get a decent challenge out of rebuilding it.

 

[Rythin]

Like Incompetent said, some countries would like quantity or naval (don't know about decentralised though, at least not that much decentralised). Anyway:

action_a { name = "I am a land nation!" } # moves naval, mercantilism
action_b { name = "I am a naval power!" } # moves land

 

[Incompetent]

Like Incompetent said, some countries would like quantity or naval (don't know about decentralised though, at least not that much decentralised). Anyway:

action_a { name = "I am a land nation!" } # moves naval, mercantilism
action_b { name = "I am a naval power!" } # moves land

The thing is, players who want to make things harder for themselves as far is DP is concerned should adhere to a simple self-imposed rule: no DP shifts except by event. At the same time, to simulate the advantage players usually have, we can also have a system of helpful AI shifts every so often - it's hardly a cheat if it's something players can emulate.

With some of our more radical plans, the Hansa will desperately want to be decentralised. Also, it will be a good idea for other spreading culture powers, for avoiding colonial revolts, and sometimes for gaining new cultures. I think there are going to be quite a few new events which will be a lot more pleasant if you are decentralised - it should be a viable option for the more expansionist powers.

 

[Underhand]

With some of our more radical plans, the Hansa will desperately want to be decentralised. Also, it will be a good idea for other spreading culture powers, for avoiding colonial revolts, and sometimes for gaining new cultures. I think there are going to be quite a few new events which will be a lot more pleasant if you are decentralised - it should be a viable option for the more expansionist powers.

You could make random events with countrysize and centralisation triggers that do nasty things to large, centralised countries.