18.51 HF3 - There is a world of difference between Normal and Veteran settings.

[StellarRat]

I know Chris said that switching to Veteran just makes the aliens have more hit points, but I don't think that's all that happens. My guys shoot much less accurately on veteran. I think they might also move/act slower (not sure about this one though.) AND the aliens are substantially tougher like Chris said. I was losing an average of one guy per mission on Veteran. Also, the larger alien ships and critters appear much sooner.

When I switched back to Normal everything pretty much seemed the same as it was in before the last couple patches. I've lost two guys in about 10 missions and one of them was a accidental move that put my guy right in front of alien the other was an autofire from an alien that was supposed to be suppressed (very rare.)

Edited June 2, 2013 by StellarRat

[Waladil]

I present to you the game difficulty settings:

<!-- DIFFICULTY MULTIPLIERS -->

<!-- The values for each are multiplied by these numbers -->

<alienTickerSpeedEasy value="1.0" />

<alienTickerSpeedNormal value="1.0" />

<alienTickerSpeedVeteran value="1.0" />

<alienTickerSpeedSuperhuman value="1.0" />

<ufoHealthEasy value="1.0" />

<ufoHealthNormal value="1.0" />

<ufoHealthVeteran value="1.0" />

<ufoHealthSuperhuman value="1.0" />

<alienAttributeEasy value="0.75" />

<alienAttributeNormal value="1.0" />

<alienAttributeVeteran value="1.2" />

<alienAttributeSuperhuman value="1.5" />

<alienWeaponDamageEasy value="0.75" />

<alienWeaponDamageNormal value="1.0" />

<alienWeaponDamageVeteran value="1.0" />

<alienWeaponDamageSuperhuman value="1.0" />

So unless there's a severe bug that's outside of this xml file, the alien tickers ought to be exactly the same, UFOs ought to be exactly the same, and alien damage should only be different on Easy. The one that I'm most curious about is the choice of variable name "alienAttribute<difficulty>"

I wonder if they're actually just getting more HP like Chris said, or if all of their attributes are actually being buffed. It would make thing considerably harder, if the aliens were in fact not just healthier but faster and more accurate. Although I suspect that most of what you're finding is random happenstance or a placebo.

P.S. I've been playing on Veteran for my all-LMG run. It's tough but not too tough. We have had casualties, and a couple disastrous missions, but all in all things are going well.

[StellarRat]

I present to you the game difficulty settings:

<!-- DIFFICULTY MULTIPLIERS -->

<!-- The values for each are multiplied by these numbers -->

<alienTickerSpeedEasy value="1.0" />

<alienTickerSpeedNormal value="1.0" />

<alienTickerSpeedVeteran value="1.0" />

<alienTickerSpeedSuperhuman value="1.0" />

<ufoHealthEasy value="1.0" />

<ufoHealthNormal value="1.0" />

<ufoHealthVeteran value="1.0" />

<ufoHealthSuperhuman value="1.0" />

<alienAttributeEasy value="0.75" />

<alienAttributeNormal value="1.0" />

<alienAttributeVeteran value="1.2" />

<alienAttributeSuperhuman value="1.5" />

<alienWeaponDamageEasy value="0.75" />

<alienWeaponDamageNormal value="1.0" />

<alienWeaponDamageVeteran value="1.0" />

<alienWeaponDamageSuperhuman value="1.0" />

So unless there's a severe bug that's outside of this xml file, the alien tickers ought to be exactly the same, UFOs ought to be exactly the same, and alien damage should only be different on Easy. The one that I'm most curious about is the choice of variable name "alienAttribute<difficulty>"

I wonder if they're actually just getting more HP like Chris said, or if all of their attributes are actually being buffed. It would make thing considerably harder, if the aliens were in fact not just healthier but faster and more accurate. Although I suspect that most of what you're finding is random happenstance or a placebo.

P.S. I've been playing on Veteran for my all-LMG run. It's tough but not too tough. We have had casualties, and a couple disastrous missions, but all in all things are going well.

Well, I still think it's more than just adding a few hit points to the aliens. I could be crazy though.