Difficulty

Comprehensive Difficulty and Gameplay Customization

RuneEra provides extensive customization options to tailor your gameplay experience. Due to the complexity of balancing a game of this scope, we've implemented a flexible system that allows players to create their perfect challenge level.

Balancing a game of RuneEra's complexity presents unique challenges. Our approach combines analytical balance with extensive gameplay testing, though the dynamic nature of events and emergent gameplay makes perfect balance difficult to achieve.

Difficulty Presets

Three Base Difficulty Levels

• Easy: Reduced challenge for relaxed colony management and exploration
• Medium: Balanced experience tested extensively during development
• Hard: Increased challenge for experienced players seeking greater difficulty

Important Note

While Medium difficulty has been thoroughly tested, Easy and Hard presets are adjusted by mathematical scaling. Easy may prove too simple, while Hard could potentially be overwhelming. Players can adjust difficulty at any time through game settings.

Universe Options

Fine-Tune Your Experience

Event Management

Event Frequency

• Purpose: Controls how often random events occur in your world
• Low Setting: Reduced event frequency for peaceful development (may become monotonous)
• High Setting: Increased event frequency for dynamic challenges (may become overwhelming)
• Balance: Medium settings provide steady challenge without constant crisis

Quest Frequency

• Purpose: Determines how often new quests become available
• Player Benefit: Higher frequency increases choice and opportunities
• Acceptance Based: Quests are optional, so increased frequency primarily benefits players

Adventure Master Intensity

Tier Decay

• Purpose: Controls how quickly the Adventure Master reduces intensity when not engaged with high-tier content
• Function: Provides breathing room between challenging encounters
• Scaling: Adjusts decay rate to match your preferred pacing

Tier Extended Threshold

• Purpose: Determines how far beyond your current tier the Adventure Master can escalate
• Example: T2 enemies may attack T1 settlements when threshold is exceeded
• Strategic Impact: Creates pressure to progress while maintaining challenge

Tier Intensity Start

• Purpose: Sets the baseline intensity level for Tier 1 content
• Scope: Affects event severity, disease outbreaks, weather challenges, and more
• Foundation: Determines your starting challenge level

Tier Intensity End

• Purpose: Sets the maximum intensity level reached at Tier 5
• Scaling: Works with Start value to determine progression curve from T1 to T5
• Endgame: Shapes how challenging late-game content becomes

Combat Customization

Combat Scaling

• Purpose: Additional multiplier specifically for combat encounters
• Target Audience: Players who want increased combat challenge without affecting other systems
• Flexibility: Allows combat-focused difficulty adjustment independent of general intensity

Boss Scaling

• Purpose: Increases boss and named undead health, armor, and attack statistics
• Challenge: Makes boss encounters more demanding and longer-lasting
• Preparation: Requires better equipment and strategy for success

Settlement Management

Mood Adjustment

• Purpose: Applies global mood boost or penalty to all settlement members
• Positive Values: Makes colonist happiness easier to maintain
• Negative Values: Increases the challenge of settlement management
• Balance: Adjusts one of the core colony management mechanics

Resource and Time Scaling

Resource Quantity Scaling

• Purpose: Multiplies the amount of resources gathered from all sources
• Progression Speed: Higher values accelerate advancement, lower values slow it
• Caution: Extremely low values may make food production insufficient for survival

Build Duration Scaling

• Purpose: Adjusts construction time for all buildings and structures
• Faster Values: Accelerated settlement development
• Slower Values: Extended construction periods for patient players

Craft Duration Scaling

• Purpose: Modifies time required for all crafting activities
• Efficiency: Affects equipment production and item creation speed
• Planning: Influences strategic timing of crafting projects

Research Duration Scaling

• Purpose: Adjusts technology research timeframes
• Knowledge: Affects how quickly new technologies become available
• Progression: Influences overall advancement through tier system

Reward and Resource Systems

Quest Reward Scaling

• Purpose: Additional multiplier for quest completion rewards
• Base System: Rewards already scale with quest parameters and difficulty
• Enhancement: Provides extra incentive for quest completion

Portal Mana Cost Scaling

• Purpose: Adjusts mana consumption for portal transportation
• Balance Concern: Prevents overuse of portals from trivializing exploration
• Resource Management: Makes portal usage a more strategic decision

Mana Generation Scaling

• Purpose: Controls the rate of mana production and accumulation
• Late Game: Addresses potential mana abundance in endgame content
• Scarcity: Maintains mana as a valuable strategic resource

Customization Philosophy

Your Perfect Game Experience

These extensive options ensure that RuneEra can accommodate different playstyles, time constraints, and challenge preferences. Whether you prefer relaxed colony building or intense survival challenges, these settings allow you to create your ideal gameplay experience.

The flexibility of this system means that no player needs to be frustrated by poor balance - simply adjust the relevant sliders to match your preferences and enjoy the game at your own pace.

Screenshots