Make interloper harder or add a more difficult mode

[xantippee]

I and many other (seasoned) players really enjoy interloper mode. It's a real challenge to play it successfully. But I have noticed a sentiment that the mode has become a bit too easy, how strange that may seem. That's one of the reasons a custom mode such as deadman is popular.

I think that commercially speaking an even harder mode than interloper, a built in mode, that has a catchy name (interloper is a very good name) and can be recognised makes a lot of sense. The interloper players are a minority but are rather vocal and passionate about the game. Many popular long dark streamers play this mode and are popular exactly because they play interloper and are good at it. I regularly see people commenting on a live TLD stream that they bought the game because the streamer was playing it and very enthusiastic about it. I personally bought it a couple of years ago because I saw someone play it on a stream.

I believe an additional, harder, and very challenging mode would no doubt help in promoting the game through channels such as streamers and create more sales. And of course it'd be more fun for players. Something like deadman, but with some condition regain and minimal loot, increased predators, and increased sense of predators, only one guaranteed spawn of essential items, worse weather etc.

If a harder mode is not practical due to time and resource constraints, perhaps tune interloper to be harder (maybe make it optional). Such as only have one hammer and hacksaw in the game. I heard there used to be only one hammer and hacksaw in interloper before I played it, or possibly when interloper was in a testing release and testing releases were still accessible (by some).

Thanks for your consideration and I can totally understand if this is not something which can be implemented at all or any time soon. Though I believe it would benefit the game a lot.

Edited September 14, 2019 by xantippee

[ManicManiac]

We do have the option to use custom difficulty settings...

[xantippee]

2 hours ago, ManicManiac said:

We do have the option to use custom difficulty settings...

I know. But a preset mode with a catchy name has much more appeal, it had this kind of foreboding atmosphere to it, if that makes sense. When I was a newbie TLD player the interloper mode certainly had that effect on me and I went to play it right after finishing story mode. Seeing streamers play it helped as well.

[ThePancakeLady]

1 hour ago, xantippee said:

I know. But a preset mode with a catchy name has much more appeal, it had this kind of foreboding atmosphere to it, if that makes sense. When I was a newbie TLD player the interloper mode certainly had that effect on me and I went to play it right after finishing story mode. Seeing streamers play it helped as well.

It has appeal for a relatively small, but vocal and visible section of the playerbase though. It took Hinterland, time, manhours (money) and a lot of bug fixing to create Interloper Mode and add it to the game. Not everyone is drawn to "hardcore masochism" in games, or this game, specifically. There are player-created challenges like the Deadman's Challenge (DMC) mode, and the newer Endangered Species Mode, as well as a number of others. You can find them on these forums, as well as a dedicated thread to them on the Steam forums, some with a list of custom settings, some with a share code, to just plug into custom settings. 

https://steamcommunity.com/app/305620/discussions/0/1635291505019529782/

With custom settings available, at least for now, I would prefer to see Hinterland put their time and effort into finishing Wintermute Story Mode, updating the Survival Mode with new content after that, and considering new experience modes last. When Modding Support is finally able to be given to us, I am sure there will be modders who will go wild creating things like what you are asking for. And giving the mods really catchy names to grab your attention. Not saying your idea is a bad one. I would simply prefer to see more that will be appealing to a greater number of players, and to more people who have not yet bought the game, or tried it.

[ManicManiac]

15 hours ago, xantippee said:

But a preset mode with a catchy name has much more appeal

Well here's the thing, you can give a catchy name to your custom settings and post it in this forum for others to try out as well!  Here are an example of a couple:

Deadman : 8MHI-/z8M-Dw+/-wSWm-bAAA  (like @ThePancakeLady mentioned - you also might want to check and see if the code has been updated)
Against All Odds : 8pnM-mioP-GgoH-Df9d-+gAA  (made my YouTuber Hadrian - basically interloper with all weapons and tools)

 

 

Edited September 14, 2019 by ManicManiac

[StrayCat]

Furthermore, you can set self-created restrictions. For example, I forbid myself to hunt rabbits with stones, as I consider it to be almost impossible in real life. This will make starting way more difficult, resctricting your access to food and guts. Other thing : choose to never starve. If possible, always aim for the well fed buff : if you were really in this kind of situation IRL, that's what you would do. Combine with no healing except birch tea, you get a quite challenging set-up. I see no point in adding a 5th difficulty mode.

Edited September 15, 2019 by StrayCat

[odizzido]

I think this problem could be solved with percent based settings in the custom mode.

Deer spawn: 1%, You might see a deer in 100 days if you're lucky

Bear spawn: 100000%. It's freakin' bearmageddon out here.

Loot value(how good an item can be): 100%, you can find everything

Loot chance: 1%, the expedition parka could spawn, but it probably didn't

Sleeping heal rate: 5%, sure you gain 2% life from sleeping which is realistic I think, but it's not the T1000 regen that you get on the current low setting.

[ajb1978]

Heh...you want something tougher than Interloper?  You got it.  

8sHM-/z8P-Dz+j-wXam-LwAA

May as well just lay down on the ground as soon as you spawn in, cuz you ded.