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Apocalyptic Factor single player

Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 5:02 pm
by kakhome1
Has anyone played this mission under single player and got at least a fair way into it? If so, is it worth playing under that mode (of course I can turn the difficulty down one notch from my normal)? I don't have a friend who plays Descent to co-op this thing with. :(

Re: Apocalyptic Factor single player

Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 5:32 pm
by Xfing
kakhome1 wrote:Has anyone played this mission under single player and got at least a fair way into it? If so, is it worth playing under that mode (of course I can turn the difficulty down one notch from my normal)? I don't have a friend who plays Descent to co-op this thing with. :(
Co-op is not necessary to complete the levels, it just makes progression through the levels faster and dramatically reduces the backtracking.

I played the mission on Hotshot all the way through. Wickedly difficult from level one already. Prepare to die a lot.

Re: Apocalyptic Factor single player

Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 6:59 pm
by kakhome1
Yeah I tested Level 1; it doesn't give you any time to rest.

Did you enjoy the mission on single player; do you think it's worth the play? That's what I'm asking, not merely if it's possible.

EDIT: Also added a poll to thread.

Re: Apocalyptic Factor single player

Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 9:10 pm
by Sirius
There is a substantial jump in difficulty from that to level 2, as well. You have some weapons by then, but the traps can be brutal and difficult to solve cleanly (kind of like Lost Levels, in fact...).

People have played through AF on single-player and enjoyed it; but it is a hard mission, so it mainly comes down to expectations. Reducing the difficulty level should help, but there are a lot of robots so it's still not going to be a romp. If you use a slow, methodical approach on an appropriate difficulty level, you shouldn't game over too easily.

P.S. Please just post the same topic in one subsection, not multiple - if people started replying to both it would make it really confusing to return to. Moderators have the final say of course, but they probably prefer their boards tidy too...

Re: Apocalyptic Factor single player

Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 9:43 pm
by kakhome1
If I don't know which forum will get more attention, what forum should I post in?

Re: Apocalyptic Factor single player

Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 12:02 am
by LightWolf
Descent Single Player is better for these kinds of things, while Descent Level Spotlight is more for showcasing levels.

Re: Apocalyptic Factor single player

Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 3:57 am
by Xfing
Both are frequented fairly equally, so don't worry too much about that.

As for enjoyment - I enjoyed the mission alright. It's got beautiful architecture and texturing at the very least. It's hard, but that can be overcome.

You should enjoy it even more with the unofficial sound patch me and Jeff250 prepared. It restores the D1 sounds to D1 robots and doors. That way you can fully enjoy the eclectic robot cast from the mission with their original sounds.

Re: Apocalyptic Factor single player

Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2017 9:48 am
by Sirius
People who are interested in that grey zone - topics that could go in either place - typically visit both forums, for the exact same reason. It does kind of suggest that we have redundant forums and could do with some mergers, but... those changes take a while to happen.

Re: Apocalyptic Factor single player

Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 6:53 am
by AlexanderBorisov
I did AF single player on Insane, it was a great fun in beating robot hordes. But I was not able to do it without saves and deaths inside each level like I did stock campaigns in D1, D2. Because there are a lot of difficult to solve traps, rocket mechs and many levels take more than an hour to complete. However it gets significantly easier after L4 when you get the Gauss. L2 and L3 are the most difficult. Also there are no problems with reaching the energy center after L4. Especially if you plan your way through the level well, you can avoid many traps and eliminate many robots from out-of range. Level design and the story was outstanding, I truly enjoyed it, so its worth playing even if it means some amount of save-scumming.